Tongxian was once very developed, after the mining of the veins began to decline, to this day only the mountains and fields of waste pits and grass slag land silently tell its past glory, if not the Tiandu ferry has not been migrated here, this water source is scarce and can not grow a grain of waste land will be canceled more than a hundred years ago, become a lifeless no man's land.

The main culprits of this badness are the abandoned ore veins.

Tongxian is prosperous in the mine, abandoned in the mine, in fact, there is no shortage of water here, according to historical records, it was a fertile land, a large area of fertile land for the surrounding thousands of miles of households, several rare wood produced on the mountain is the best wood for making bows, arrows, boats, boats, etc., but these can only make people eat and clothing but can not make a fortune, so after the first vein was confirmed, everyone did not hesitate to shift the focus to the mining of mines.

The rich mineral deposits have made the people of Tongxian a fortune, and at the same time polluted this land, those spiritual materials are not ordinary raw materials, most of them are poisonous, and some ordinary people will be fatal even if they get a little closer, and only martial artists with a certain degree of cultivation can touch them.

People are mining spiritual materials, but also constantly influence, change the deep underground leyline, a lot of poisonous spiritual materials with water permeability, landslides and other accidents mixed into the underground water veins, resulting in a large number of living wells around the well into a highly toxic dead well, a large number of people in the unknowingly by mistake, drinking poisonous water and falling ill and dying, just like the mine in Daqiu Mountain, the disease can not help but kill themselves, but also affect future generations.

By the time the problem was discovered, it was too late, and there was no one in the water source in Tong County.

In fact, the so-called discovery is not a discovery at all, but an expose, the local officials and mine owners have long discovered the pollution problem of the mine, and they know it, because of huge interests, they secretly colluded to cover up the matter, until a local high school second-year Jinshi took off his robe and hairpin to look at the sore on his body with the emperor, and presented the evidence that he had painstakingly collected at the risk of his life for many years, and smashed the iron curtain with a piece of paper.

Needless to say, the emperor also died of illness shortly after this incident, leaving only a sick and weak only son, who did not live long, missed twice, and died before the age of thirty, and like his father, he left only one son.

In this regard, the family is like a curse, a single line and short life from generation to generation, the longest-lived one did not live more than forty, and the inheritance has finally produced another high-quality material, that is, a few years ago, the palace vomited blood, bringing up a "sick and delicate" wind that has not been blown until now, which made Feng Zhiping extremely speechless and considered following the example.

Tongxian is the hometown of the sick champion.

Maybe it's to commemorate, maybe it's to make up, or it's to wake up, in short, the establishment of Tongxian County has been preserved to this day, and Tiandu has never moved here, which is also the main source of income for the local people.

The ship was to stop in Tongxian for two days to replace the power spiritual material, and after Feng Zhiping and Jing Wuxin politely "discussed", they decided to get off the ship and live in the town.

There is a yamen in the town, there is a township brave regiment, and there is a battalion of more than 2,000 officers and soldiers stationed about 50 miles outside the city, compared with the Tiandu field on the outskirts of the city, the county town is undoubtedly safer, and he does not believe that anyone who is full of food dares to assassinate them in the city.

Leaving Xiao Tao and the others to clean up, he told the guards to "strictly protect" the safety of the empty Xuan VIPs, and refused to be accompanied by others, Feng Zhiping only took Niu Chunhan to wander on the street.

Walking on the streets of Tongxian County, Feng Zhiping looked left and right, looked forward and back, looked up and down, and felt a feeling - dirty.

Dirty is not dirty, the layout of the small county house and the street sanitation are good, the two streets are already very clean, but the soil here is too heavy.

When the breeze blows, you can feel the sand and gravel on your face, every breath is like gasping in a room full of old ashes, the sun is shining, the dry and dusty air makes people feel thirsty after walking a few steps, and the most terrible thing is here.

The water here is bitter.

If he hadn't learned about the situation here in advance, Feng Zhiping would really have thought that someone had poisoned him, the water in the well was bitter and astringent, not to mention, he didn't even need to drink it, just look at the color of the suspicious particles floating in the slightly yellowish and yellow, and the blue and blue.

The innkeeper repeatedly assured that the water was really fine, but the taste was not good, and if you really couldn't stand it, you could buy another "sweet water".

"Sweet water" is transported from other places thousands of miles away, is the most ordinary water, not sweet, without any taste, different from the local "bitter water" has this name, the price is naturally expensive, according to the price of Quanzhou City to calculate just flush a low-end light plum wine, a jar of a jar, compared with water is undoubtedly unimaginable sky-high price.

Feng Zhiping is not bad for money, but he can't think about it at the price of wine to buy water, to be honest, he has the heart to find someone to set up a point here to sell water, the most important thing in Quanzhou is water, and the channel is absolutely profitable.

With the idea of remembering the bittersweet and the sweet, under the banner of inspecting the market, he politely declined the warm recommendation of the innkeeper and went to the street to find some real wine to drink.

However, when he went to the street, he realized that he had made a fool.

In a place where water is sold as wine, how can the wine still be at the original price?

Not only wine, but everything that gets in touch with water is expensive!

Take the food stall just passed by, the mutton has not been washed for 20 wen and 3 strings, and the mutton soup has soared directly to one or two, or the local water, and the sweet water is boiled and then added two and a half, and the bowl is two circles smaller than the previous one.

Niu Chunhan, who has always been "diligent and thrifty", straightened his eyes at that time, leaned over and whispered: "Young master, if your subordinates come here on an errand in the future, can the travel expenses go up? Three hundred taels can't survive in this ghost place for a month!"

Feng Zhiping generously said that there was no problem, patted him on the shoulder and said: "If you set up a point here in the future, I will send you to stay there, rest assured, the monthly money will be high for you, fifty taels a month, six hundred taels a year, you are higher than the annual salary of the six grades of Jingguan!"

Niu Chunhan almost burst into tears, and said with a sad face: "Forget it, you spare me, I won't come to this ghost place to give money!"

Feng Zhiping laughed and teased: "Don't you see it, right? This is a treasure of feng shui, and it has been a champion!"

Niu Chunhan pouted: "Pull it down, that master has never come back since his ancestor's high school generation, and the younger one suspects that his ancestor was scared to death, not sick to death!"

The cause of death is varied, the most widely known theory is that he died of illness, and it is also said that he was secretly killed by a big man who touched his interests, and there is also a theory that Niu Chunhan said that he was scared to death, because the emperor at that time before his death was intentionally sending him back to Tongxian to take office.

The emperor felt that with him, a native, full of righteousness, not afraid of life and death, not afraid of power, the parents and officials were there, Tongxian County will be able to develop in a good direction, and the result is that the will is not yet a person will be killed, and every generation of descendants since then have stayed in Beijing to study the imperial examination, although it is understandable to read, but the timing of the death of the master is too coincidental, and it is really impossible not to make people reverie.

Feng Zhiping smiled and said lightly: "Accumulate some virtue, this is Tong County, that person's hometown, and the people of the city regard him as honor, you are so careful that people will hear and beat you." Let's go to the Zhuangyuan Temple in front. ”

The champion temple is the ancestral hall built by the people of Tongxian County spontaneously for the sick champion, because the champion is surnamed Tong, also known as the Tong Temple.

Tongmiao is the most popular place in Tong County, especially more than the county government, many scholars who rush to take the exam will come to worship here, burn incense and pray for blessings, and pray for high school.

Incense to a big living person, I really don't know what these people think, and they are not afraid of being ill, and they will be angry to death when they kick their legs.

Feng Zhiping was secretly amused, thinking that he must ask if he had a chance in the capital.

As the flow of people squeezed into the ancestral hall, as soon as they entered the door, a few acquaintances at the door were cold, and one of them walked over with a round head and a round brain, bowed his hand, and smiled before speaking.

"This son, dare to ask you to incense or pray for blessings?"

Well, here comes the sheep slaughterer.

Feng Zhiping and Niu Chunhan glanced at each other, turned their heads and said with a smile: "Isn't incense and blessing the same thing, what's the matter, you guys are not the same?"

"Exactly. The fat man smiled, "I see that you should be the first time to come, so I don't know, our champion temple is divided into two parts, just the flowers of burning incense are made outside, well, it is the incense burner in front, ordinary incense is ten wen and one stick, incense is twenty wen, and one or two are opened, if you are full of three, you can be discounted, and two halves will be." ”

Feng Zhiping almost laughed, coughed and asked, "How can there be a consecration, this is not a monk temple." ”

The fat man waved his hand and said with a serious face: "Kaiguang doesn't necessarily have to be a monk, the seal of our incense is the word mentioned by the Jinke champion Tong Jiantong himself, our Tong Lord is now the left waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and the official worships the three products, and there is news that he will be transferred to the imperial history of the imperial stage in the near future, and the words he mentioned are much more effective than the monk!"

Feng Zhiping couldn't hold back anymore and burst into laughter, this stupid fat man blew the sea, but he didn't know that the title was wrong.

First of all, Tianyuan liberal arts and martial arts, only the three yuan and the first can be called Jinke, Tianyuan has been able to call the champion of Jinke since the beginning of the dynasty The sum of less than twenty people, that sick champion is not fake, but it is not three yuan and first, it is not called Jinke champion.

Secondly, it is not wrong for the official rank of the left squire of the Ministry of Rites to be the third grade, but he said that he was transferred to the imperial history of the imperial stage to "be promoted" to the deputy capital of the imperial history, which is very wrong.

The Imperial Historical Observatory and the Imperial Court are also called the Taiwan Advisory, the predecessor is the Inspectorate established during the opening of the Dynasty, which is jointly managed by the three ministries of work, officials and criminals, and the prison officials inspect the people's feelings, and assist the emperor in governing the world when the needle is wrong, and the power is great, but it is a pity that it was rotten later, and when Emperor Wu of the Yuan and Ming Dynasty almost brought disaster to the country, Emperor Wu of the Ming Dynasty began to cut the powers of the Inspectorate after he ascended the throne, and it was split and reintegrated a little bit, and finally became the two courts of Taiwan and the Imperial Academy, although the Inspectorate was not withdrawn, but it was reduced to a department under the Imperial History Observatory in the suppression again and again, and became a joke in the system.

This is not counting, You An is suspicious, and after integrating the two courts, he is still not at ease, and before he died, he left an edict to order his descendants to continue to reform, which is bound to make the supervision system independent and firmly in the hands of the emperor, so there is now Tianting Supervisor.

Because of the existence of the Heavenly Hearing Supervisor, the two courts of Taiwan and the Imperial Court with overlapping functions and jurisdictions naturally lost most of their powers, and the Imperial Court is better, but it can advise the national body and the people's livelihood, and the Imperial Historical Observatory will be miserable without the right to investigate and dispose of it.

In fact, the imperial historians are also bitter in their hearts, sue it, offend people, don't sue it, offend the emperor, rather than fall into the charge of a corpse vegetarian meal, it is better to offend people, so Feng Mo Xiu's this has become the "fragrant bun" in the eyes of the imperial historians - participate in the promotion of Mo Xiu to make a fortune, and damage the Shengqi family to ruin people, this is the official golden rule.

Because of the power was cut, the official rank of the imperial history platform is not as good as before, and now the director of the imperial history is the third grade from the imperial history, the left and right are made four products from the left, the deputy are made from the four products, and the other imperial history five to nine products are available, and those who are qualified to go to the court must at least have six products, that is to say, more than half of the people in the imperial history platform can not go to the court, and they cannot get out of the capital without the right to investigate and dispose of them, so they can only lead the meager money in the yamen like an idler, write an excerpt to the official and come up with ideas, and slowly boil up the qualifications.

Therefore, if Tong Jian is really transferred to the Imperial History Observatory as the deputy capital of the Imperial History, it is definitely not a promotion, but a real depreciation, even if he retains his official title.

Zuo Shilang is only one step away from Shangshu, and he is one of the top members of the six departments, and now he is transferred to the subordinate of the next department as a deputy, this is called "Rong"?

Fools think it's glory!

But then again, it's not without benefit to really be transferred to the Imperial History Observatory, the Imperial Historians are doing the work of offending people everywhere with empty mouths and white teeth, and there are a lot of demotions and depositions, but on the contrary, their official reputation accumulates faster than others.

Knocked down and can't stand up is a stupid idiot, and if you fall down, you can stand up that is the hero of the Han people, the black history of the past has turned into their glorious repeated stands, a "uphold justice", "not afraid of power", "hard work" and "perseverance forward" officials are naturally good officials in the eyes of the people, "turning over the battle" is the most popular theme of the words, left and right are in the official reputation, and it will be easier to integrate into it when transferred to other departments in the future, and it will be accepted by people - A guy who once spewed blood and scolded him so much that he couldn't even say a word on his bloody head and mouth became his own mouth to help him scold back, who is not happy?

What's more, these people also have "excellent official reputations".

What does the emperor think, Feng Zhiping doesn't care where the sick champion goes, he just looks at this fat man happily.

If you have the heart to accuse him, think about it or forget it.

There are so many scholars who come here to burn incense, and any of them can hear his mistakes, so let him continue to be wrong, just help those poor candidates save money, use the money to do what they should do, and don't waste it on these vain things.

The fat man didn't know that he was timid, and Haikan, who was still swearing there, asked expectantly: "Do you burn incense or pray for blessings?"

To burn incense is to insert incense in the large incense burner outside, and to pray for blessing is to enter the inner courtyard and bow down like worshipping the Buddha.

Feng Zhiping didn't have the habit of worshipping other people's ancestors, not to mention that people were still alive, but he wanted to go in and have a look.

It is said that after the development of Zhuang Yuanlang, many literati and ink writers have left words in it, although they do not know the literature and ink, but it is also good to look at other people's masterpieces, and the right should be eye-catching.

Let Niu Chunhan pay, spent twenty taels to buy three "open light" incense and a wooden sign that has also been opened, the wooden card is used to make a wish, the shape of auspicious clouds is beautifully carved.

Niu Chunhan was distressed, even if it wasn't his money, he stared at the fat man viciously when he paid, his expression was as if he had a hatred for killing his father, and he stared at the fat man until the two of them walked away before he dared to raise his head, secretly muttering that this son is really weird, a well-mannered reader actually brought a scholar like a king of Hades, I really don't know if there is any special habit.

Niu Chunhan muttered all the way in a low voice, saying for a while that twenty taels could be five bowls of half-sweet mutton soup, and for a while saying that twenty taels was his salary for two months.

Feng Zhiping was annoyed, stopped and glared at him: "It's my money that is spent and it's not yours, mumble and mumble like a mother-in-law, can you be more generous, do you know what it means to be 'hard to buy a thousand gold'?"

Niu Chunhan shrunk his neck, and glared weakly: "It's your money, but your subordinates are also yours, this money is equivalent to cutting the meat of your subordinates, don't you feel distressed, can't your subordinates hurt for you?"

Feng Zhiping was so mad that his hair exploded, and he rubbed his arms violently and said: "Next time, it's all over, add the word 'subordinate', do you a big man say that you are mine, isn't it disgusting?

Niu Chunhan sneered, looked at the wooden sign in his hand and complained: "This broken thing costs twenty taels, what kind of thing! You want to hang up your early talk, I'll carve a few for you, what do you want! Look, look at this craft, there are still raw edges, and I'm not afraid of piercing people's hands!"

Feng Zhiping was completely speechless, too lazy to talk to him, and turned around and walked into the ancestral hall of the inner courtyard.

The ancestral hall is arranged in a regular manner, there is an offering platform on the door, a statue of Buddha is placed on it, and there is a spiritual seat rented by the Tong family around it.

The walls and stone pillars on both sides are covered with handwriting, and you can leave words here, so I think you are also a famous artist.

When Feng Zhiping entered the door, there was only one person in the ancestral hall worshipping, the scholar was dressed up, the back was thin, and he didn't look back when he heard someone enter the door, his movements were meticulous, solemn and serious.

Feng Zhiping ignored him, stepped forward to insert incense on his own, kowtow is impossible, after inserting the incense, he took two steps back and was flush with the scholar, and began to look at the spiritual position on the altar with his hands behind his back.

He frowned and looked at it again, and when he saw the Buddha statue in the middle of the altar, he suddenly understood.

This is not a Buddha statue at all, but a human statue, although the fat head and big ears look very similar to the Le Buddha enshrined in the monk temple, but the clothes are wrong, and the portrait is an official uniform.

The most interesting thing is that this official is nondescript, with a three-grade hat on his head, and a four-grade color on his body, and the ornamentation has become a seven-grade pattern, which is estimated to be learned by the county master, and the county order of Tong County is the seventh grade.

The most ridiculous thing is that it still has a wat board in its hand!

This thing has been canceled for more than 100 years, and the craftsman who made this statue must have seen too much play, and thought that now the court has to take a board to cover his face.

"You said that if Zhuang Yuanlang knew that he was made into this appearance, would he be angry?" Feng Zhiping turned around and asked with a smile.

Niu Chunhan took half a step forward and laughed in a low voice: "It may not be dead, but it will definitely vomit blood." ”

Feng Zhiping smiled dumbly, shook his head and was about to go and see those words, the scholar on the side ended the week, stood up and dressed slightly, and stepped forward to talk.

"I won't vomit blood, this is the heart of the people in my hometown, even if there is a mistake, it can be understood, after all, not everyone knows the details of the official uniform and the etiquette system of the court, I think Tong Jian will not be angry if he knows, he will only be grateful. ”

Niu Chunhan's eyes were slightly cold, and he quietly lowered his left hand, and the short blade silently slid down his fingertips to hide.

Feng Zhiping looked at the young man, and saw that his face was clear, his cheeks were slightly sunken, his voice was soft and seemed to be lacking in qi, and he had no sense of qi on his body, knowing that this was a pure weak scholar who was no threat to himself.

Retracting his gaze, Feng Zhiping smiled and nodded: "This is reasonable, but I don't know if he would be angry if he knew that the people here were making money under his pretense?"