More than 100 miles east of the Hetao Plain, is a smaller mountain range, called Wutie Mountain, belongs to the branch of Yinshan Mountain, the whole mountain range is about 300 miles long, 100 zhang high, connected with Daqing Mountain, is the natural barrier in the north of Yulin County, standing on the top of the mountain can overlook the surging Yellow River in the distance.

About 20 miles to the northwest of the mountain range, there is a small town, called Datong Town, which was originally the outpost of the Sui army, and formed a small town due to the gradual gathering of the population, which belongs to Wuhai County, Wuyuan County.

The town is actually not big, there is only one long street, there are seventy or eighty families on both sides of the street, more than a dozen shops along the street, inns, liquor stores, grocery stores, blacksmith shops, pharmacies, and more merchants' receiving shops, there are as many as five, and there is a low-grade brothel in the west of the town.

Their guests were mainly Turkic herders from the north, as well as merchants who passed along the way, and there were several Turkic tribes in the steppe a hundred or two hundred miles to the north.

At this time, it is the golden autumn September, the cold north wind has not yet arrived, this is also the harvest season of the grassland, the cattle and sheep are herded, the horses are strong, the herdsmen have dug up the medicinal materials, tanned the leather, and have rushed to Datong Town to trade, and at the same time buy winter things, mainly salt and tea, as well as Central Plains wine, or buy a piece of silk for women, so that Datong Town is particularly lively, a street is crowded with Turks and their horses, this is the golden season of Datong Town in a year.

In the afternoon, Datong Town was bustling as usual, with a long queue in front of a liquor shop in the east of the town, there were two liquor shops in the town, this liquor shop was called Lin Kee Liquor Shop, which had been open here for nearly 20 years, and the business had been dull and bland, and the business was the lightest among the two liquor shops.

Although the Dali peach wine is sold very well in the Central Plains, the business on the grassland is average, and the Turks think it is not strong enough, and most of the Turks buy it just by chance to change the taste.

Lin Ji liquor shop suffers from a bad location, can not attract Turkic people, but since more than two months ago, this liquor shop came to a Taoist priest who fled from the Central Plains, Taoist winemaking skills are quite high, he will peach wine re-into the pot steaming, so that the peach wine becomes strong, very in line with the taste of the Turks, the reputation of the name of all of a sudden, known as Taoist wine, Taoist wine reputation even spread to Fengzhou, Dali County Chengwang Zhanwu not long ago personally came to Datong Town to invite this Taoist priest to Dali City to make wine, but was politely rejected by the Taoist.

At this time, a team of cavalry galloped in the distance, about more than 1,000 people, the cavalry rushed to the outside of the town and stopped the horses, the head of the general is Yang Yuanqing, the governor of Fengzhou, he was inspecting Dali City, and happened to hear the county king Zhanwu talk about this Taoist priest, Yang Yuanqing almost did not stop, all the way to the gallop, he was anxious, for fear that the Taoist priest would return to the Central Plains.

Yang Yuanqing, under the escort of more than 200 soldiers, followed Wang Xiancheng and walked quickly towards Lin Ji Wine Shop, outside the wine shop, the owner Lin Hong was maintaining order, he turned his head, and saw Wang Xiancheng coming again, he couldn't help but feel nervous in his heart, so he refused to let go of his winemaking Taoist?

But the other party was the county Cheng, he didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly stepped forward and bent down to salute, "Xiaomin Lin Hong see the county Cheng." ”

In fact, Wang Xiancheng is also just confused, the other party is just a Taoist priest who makes wine, why does the manager jump up when he hears his name, he doesn't drink tea, he doesn't eat rice, and he can't figure it out like a gust of wind, does the manager want to learn the wine-making technique of this Taoist priest and sell the peach wine to the Turks?

No matter what Wang Xiancheng thought, he could only think of the reason that the manager wanted to sell wine to the Turks.

Wang Xiancheng was instructed by Yang Yuanqing not to reveal his identity in advance, and he did not introduce Yang Yuanqing, so he asked with a smile: "Master Lin, is the wine Taoist still there?" ”

Shopkeeper Lin was extremely nervous, and stammered: "Back to the county, he has already left." ”

Wang Xiancheng was a little disappointed in his heart, and looked back at Yang Yuanqing, but Yang Yuanqing saw the nervousness and cunning in the eyes of the shopkeeper, he gave the guard next to him a look, and the guard punched the shopkeeper to the ground, and pulled out his sword to his throat, "You are so bold, you dare to deceive my general!" ”

Shopkeeper Lin suddenly understood who this young officer was, and he was so frightened that his soul was not possessed, and he begged again and again, "Spare your life!" Spare your life! ”

At this moment, a Taoist priest walked out of the wine shop, about thirty-four or five years old, tall, wearing an apricot yellow Taoist robe, wearing a bamboo crown, with a straight nose and a square mouth, clear eyes, and three long whiskers under his chin, quite a bit of fairy wind and bones.

He stepped forward and saluted, "Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable, why should Chief Yang be angry with a wine seller? ”

Wang Xiancheng hurriedly whispered to Yang Yuanqing: "It's him, the Taoist priest who is good at brewing wine." ”

Yang Yuanqing glanced him up and down and asked, "You are Wei Zheng, the Julu man?" ”

This Taoist priest is Wei Zheng, evading the conscription and fled to Fengzhou, because the proprietor of Lin Ji Wine Shop and he is a fellow villager, a few years ago in his hometown to meet, he fled to Datong Town, temporarily settled in Lin Ji Wine Shop, his wine-making skills are very high, and soon the reputation of Taoist wine spread, and even Dali County Cheng also came to invite him to make wine.

Wei Zhengzhizhi is not a winemaker, he politely declined Wang Xiancheng's invitation, but he didn't expect that after a few days, Yang Yuanqing, the governor of Youzhou, personally came to invite him, is he really the life of a winemaker?

He smiled bitterly and asked, "Is Manager Yang going to invite Wei Zheng to go to Dali City to make wine?" ”

Yang Yuanqing shook his head and said solemnly: "Wuyuan County will hold an autumn exam next month to openly select talents, and I would like to ask Mr. to be the examiner of Jiuyuan County." ”

Everyone present was stunned, even Wang Xiancheng's eyes widened, the examiners of each county must be at least above the main book to be qualified, the chief manager actually asked this wine-making Taoist to be the examiner, he wondered if he had heard it wrong, it was to roast wine, not the examiner.

Wei Zheng was also stunned, although he had great ambitions, few people knew about it, his reputation for winemaking was much greater than that of his literary talent, how could Yang Yuanqing know? Could it be the teacher's recommendation?

Wei Zheng had been a nominal disciple of the great Confucian Wang Tong for a few months, but Wang Tong had too many students, there were thousands, and he didn't even have an official student status, so Wang Tong didn't know him at all, let alone recommend him to Yang Yuanqing.

After a while, Wei Zheng sighed and said, "Meng Yang is in charge of love, I'm afraid Wei Zheng is going to disappoint the manager." ”

He wanted to refuse again, but Yang Yuanqing smiled and said: "Mr. today wants to go back with me no matter what, I have two seats for you to choose, one is the brewer of Dali City, and the other is the chief examiner of Jiuyuan County, you can choose one yourself!" ”

Wei Zheng looked at Yang Yuanqing's sincere gaze, in fact, he was also very moved in his heart, as Yang Yuanqing's Fengguo Gong, the governor of Youzhou, he actually came to invite himself in person, no matter how he knew himself, but this sincerity made him unable to refuse.

Wei Zheng gave a deep salute, "The manager doesn't think Wei Zheng is stupid, and he is willing to follow the work of dogs and horses." ”

Yang Yuanqing was overjoyed, he was eager to seek talent, but he didn't expect that a remote town would invite Wei Zheng, he patted Wang Xiancheng on the shoulder and praised: "If you recommend meritorious, I will reward you heavily." ”

Wang Xiancheng smiled bitterly in his heart, what he recommended was just a brewer.

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In the Lin Ji wine shop, Wei Zheng invited Yang Yuanqing and Wang Xiancheng to sit down in his room, poured them a glass of self-brewed wine, and said with a smile: "The manager, please drink a glass of my steamed wine and see how it tastes?" ”

Yang Yuanqing took a drink from the wine glass, only to feel that the wine tasted mellow and the wine was stronger, so he asked with a smile: "Who did Mr. learn from winemaking?" ”

Wei Zheng smiled, "It was learned from my master when I was a monk, and he traveled all over the world and learned the steaming and brewing method from a Dawan Sogdian. ”

Next to him, Wang Xiancheng asked curiously: "Isn't Mr. Wei a Taoist priest now?" ”

Wang Xiancheng saw that Yang Yuanqing respected Wei Zheng a lot, and he didn't dare to slack off, so his tone was a little more polite.

Wei Zheng smiled slightly and said: "Don't hide it from the county, I was already vulgar six years ago, and I wore this Taoist uniform just to avoid military service." ”

Yang Yuanqing pondered and asked, "My situation should be known to Mr.!" ”

Wei Zheng nodded and smiled: "I have heard that the chief manager is self-reliant and not anti-Sui. ”

Yang Yuanqing asked again: "If one day, the world is in chaos and the heroes are competing for each other, if I also intend to seek the world, what should I do?" ”

In fact, Yang Yuanqing's question, Wei Zheng also thought about it for him when he had nothing to do, he smiled slightly, "I'm afraid that Wei Zheng has a rough understanding and makes General Yang smile and be generous." ”

"Sir, but it doesn't hurt to speak!"

Wei Zheng said unhurriedly: "My opinion is actually only three words to sum up, go east!" ”

Yang Yuanqing perked up and hurriedly said, "Sir, please elaborate." ”

"In fact, there are two ways out of Fengzhou, one is to go south, the other is to go east, to the south is to seize Guanlong, to the east is to take Shandong, although Guanlong has a large population, but Yang is the son-in-law of the Pei family, is the enemy of the Guanlong nobles, it is not wise to take Guanlong, and it is very easy to cause the emperor's alarm to seize the counties in Guannei, and Yushu County also belongs to the Hetao Plain, the land is fertile, the population is sparse, and there is a desert in the south, there are Daqing Mountains and the Great Wall in the north, the Turkic iron cavalry is difficult to enter, the governor can place a large number of people who fled north here, At the same time, it is not easy to be noticed by the imperial court, and more importantly, it is a springboard to Hedong and Hebei, once the Central Plains is in turmoil, the governor can lead the army to quickly enter Hebei, occupy Youzhou, and get the land of Youyan, so that there is a foundation for hegemony in the world, and there is the support of the Shandong scholars, why not? Therefore, I have only one opinion, take the people in the customs and occupy the land of the Hetao. ”

Wei Zheng's words not only deeply fit Yang Yuanqing's meaning, but also made Wang Xiancheng admire him so much, he now believes that the manager invited Wei Zheng to Fengzhou, not to roast wine, but to take an exam.

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Yang Yuanqing took Wei Zheng back to Wuyuan County, but did not immediately reuse him, but appointed him as the head of Jiuyuan County, and participated in the preparation for the autumn examination that will be held in a month.