Wang Meng laughed, and gently kicked the horse's belly with both feet, "Let's go ahead and take a walk." ”

Bai Ling quickly followed.

The two walked to a secluded place, and Wang Meng spoke, "After getting along for this time, what does Song Qing think of Shao Kuan?" ”

Bai Ling thought for a moment and replied, "For the integrity of the official, and the benevolence of the heart, it is just that I occasionally cherish the feathers too much...... Maybe it's a common problem of civil servants. ”

Wang Meng burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" There was something strange about Bai Ling.

"If he hadn't cherished his feathers, he wouldn't have been looking at this county order at both ends." Wang Meng smiled, "If you ask him what disease he has today, it may be that he has the disease of cherishing feathers!" ”

Bai Ling was confused, but soon understood what Wang Meng meant.

Last spring, Shao Kuan took a copy of Cao Xun.

The reason is very simple, Cao Xun handed over the entire city defense of Zhuozhou to Shenjichuan, which was guarding the area of Zhuozhou at that time.

General Shen's personality is obvious to everyone in the north, and Shao Kuan himself does not suspect that Shen Jichuan will rebel or have other evil thoughts.

It's just that the mutual restraint between civilian and military officials is extremely necessary, which is to systematically limit the power of both sides. Like Cao Xun, who took the initiative to empty himself and be a shopkeeper, in this special situation, of course, there will be no big mess, but if the court does not punish severely, but let it go, I am afraid that it will have a very bad start in the future.

At that time, states and counties will rush to follow suit...... When the military family is dominant, the north will be chaotic.

"Of course, this is the truth," Wang Meng said softly, "but at that time, Cao Xun had been in the north for nearly four years, and there was no major mistake, and the replacement at this time may not be conducive to the border defense." Therefore, the imperial court verbally reprimanded the lazy government of Cao Zhifu, but in fact did not give any punishment. ”

"No wonder ......," Bai Ling laughed, "Before I left Zhuozhou, this prefect gave me a mission." ”

"What?"

"Lord Cao asked me to see if there were any grievances along the way in the north." Bai Ling said softly, "In the state capitals and counties along the way, there should be more than one person who is dissatisfied with Cao Xun. ”

"Hahaha," Wang Meng laughed, "We don't understand the affairs of civil officials. However, Cao Zhifu has great respect for the two generals Chang and Shen, so he usually treats us well, and Shao County's order does not want to see Cao Zhifu has his own reasons, and we should be polite or polite. ”

When the two chatted here, they suddenly heard a sound of footsteps, and a herald came to report that the carriage of Cao Xun and Cao Governor's Mansion had arrived a mile or two ahead.

Wang Meng and Bai Ling soon returned to the team, and everyone lined up again to welcome Cao Xun's car.

During the day, the snow fell intermittently, and the heat turned into snow-white mist, and the wild was really cold enough.

Despite this, Cao Xun still had to get out of the car and say hello to Wang Meng.

After getting out of the car like this, the tip of his nose was already frozen red, and his whole face looked a little funny. Bai Ling saw that his sleeves were fat and he had been covering his abdomen, and he quickly saw that Master Cao had been covering a soup woman.

After chatting for a few words, Cao Xun couldn't stand the cold, and hurriedly returned to the carriage, and the group slowly looked towards the two ends.

"Can't stand it?" Xue Zi'an muttered quietly, "We've been waiting here for more than an hour." ”

Bai Ling glanced at him and smiled, "Be careful that your brother hears you again." ”

Xue Zi'an looked left and right, and only after making sure that Xue Ziping and Wang Meng were at the forefront of the team did he snort lightly.

……

After entering the county office, sitting by the charcoal basin and roasting for a while, Cao Xun gradually recovered a little of his spirit.

Wang Meng sent someone to fetch his own tiger skin blanket, wrapped it tightly for Lord Cao, and sent someone to fetch warm wine, so it was relieved for more than half an hour, and Cao Xun finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

"What about Shao Kuanren?" Cao Xun looked at the county Cheng with a straight face, "How long has it been since the prefect entered the yamen?" You Lord Shao are really sick to death, and you can't get up now? ”

"Back to ...... Back to the house, we, Lord Shao, have been changing clothes. ”

"Half an hour to change your clothes?" Cao Xun said coldly, "Did he start by weaving clothes when he changed clothes?" ”

Wang Meng smiled, "Master Cao, don't worry, come, have another drink." ”

Cao Xun changed his smiling face again, holding the cup in both hands, "The deputy general is really hard, the road is slippery in snow, and it is difficult to go the wrong way, so it is so late......"

"You don't have to worry about this kind of trivial matter," Wang Meng asked, "Why did Lord Futai come to look at this side from both ends?" Is it a will or ......? ”

"I'm here to get the food myself." Cao Xun replied.

"Rationing?"

"Yes, the six main warehouses in Zhuozhou burned three overnight, although the rest is enough to eat, but the stock is still too small." Cao Xun's confidence was also slightly sufficient when he said this, "After all, Zhuozhou still has half of the Changjia army." Fortunately, the gold thief has not made any moves in the past few days, and there should be no more battles in the future. ”

Wang Meng nodded, "But they haven't retreated, and they can't be taken lightly." ”

"Hey," Cao Xun waved his hand, "they'll be back soon." ”

Wang Meng raised his eyebrows slightly, "What?" ”

"These gold thieves are not retreating, they are waiting for our reply," Cao Xun chuckled softly, "They sent letters to all the state capitals before, saying that they wanted to reopen the grain and horse markets. ”

Bai Ling's eyes lit up slightly, if he could really open up trade and stop the war, it would be a great thing.

Cao Xun replied, "A gold thief is a gold thief, and as soon as we open our mouths, we will be asked to hand over 20% of the grain to the treasury every year—"

"Turn it in?" Bai Ling thought he had misheard, "Grain and horses are in the market...... Isn't it meant to buy and sell grain and horses with one another? ”

"And this kind of good thing," Cao Xun sneered, "They send five hundred horses every year, and if they want us hundreds of thousands of stones of grain, they will be robbed of it - this kind of condition, we can't agree, but this year, the gold thief has suffered a big loss in the rear, and it is impossible to have any spare strength to come to us for trouble." ”

"Whose reply is waiting for the reply that Governor Cao said?" Wang Meng asked.

"Heikyo's." Cao Xun replied, "As soon as we received the letter from the gold thief, we stepped up to send the letter to Beijing for eight hundred miles, after all, we are not in charge of this kind of thing." ”

"How much grain was plundered in Yanzhou this time, does Governor Cao know?" Wang Meng asked again.

Cao Xun laughed, "I don't know the specifics, but I'm afraid that Governor Fang won't be able to keep his black yarn hat this year, and if Yanzhou can't transfer grain to the south this year, he won't be able to survive." It's a pity that their prefect Fang used to be old friends with me, and he was a good person, and he knew how to be flexible, but he was unlucky to be planted here this time, and he will definitely not be able to go back to the capital next year......"