Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 222 Immortal Official

The weather in Chang'an City has cooled down in early August, and from time to time you can see wild geese flying south and their calls ringing loudly.

In Du's house in Shengpingfang, life has returned to the peace of the past. Occasionally, Lu Fengniang will sit in the courtyard and chat with her daughter-in-law, worried that her two daughters will not get married again, and talk about other things.

"Only you can control Wu Lang, you have to be stricter..."

The wind carried these chatterings to the east chamber, which did not prevent Du Wulang from sleeping soundly on his desk at all, until someone pushed him and called: "Qi Lang, it's time to wake up and study."

Du Wulang was really sleepy, so he turned around, hugged his wife's waist, and asked in a daze: "Mother Yun, shall we lie down on the couch for a while?"

"No." Xue Yunniang said with a straight face, "My mother and I have given orders, you must study hard."

Du Wulang sniffed and muttered: "Did you use osmanthus powder today? It smells so good."

"Don't ask me to say it again. Just wake up and read a book."

Suddenly, Xue Yunniang's tone turned harsh, and Du Wulang woke up suddenly, fearing that his wife would be angry.

She is usually gentle and well-behaved, but occasionally she gets angry. It doesn't matter, it's just the momentum alone that can suppress him.

"belch."

Du Wulang burped, and the smell of roasted lamb, cloves, and pepper came over him. He had a full stomach at noon and was so sleepy that he had no intention of reading. He could only force himself to wake up and open his eyes to look at the rows of handwriting.

Fortunately, after a while, Quanfu came to report: "Wu Lang, there are several poor students who came to pay a visit."

"Yun Niang, can I go?"

Xue Yunniang had regained her soft voice and said softly: "I'm sure I'll meet Mr. Qi, but how about finishing reading this page? I'll accompany you to the garden to pick pomegranates at night."

After reading two more pages, Du Wulang burped and went to the lobby.

Several scholars who were waiting there stood up one after another and saluted: "I have admired the name of Wu Lang for a long time, and the Five Chunwei brothers are the people I admire the most..."

Recently, Du Wulang suddenly became famous.

He didn't react much to this, and muttered: "You want to read books in the East Library, right?"

As he said that, he took the books and pen and ink directly from the shelf and put them on the desk. He then said: "Fill in your name, place of residence, and residence. I will take you there tomorrow morning. Don't steal or destroy the books..."

The Secretary's Eastern Pavilion has been changed to the Hongwen Pavilion for scholars all over the world to read. However, one must have the status of Imperial College Supervisor or Gongju, so Du Wulang, a Ming Jing scholar, is naturally qualified to go there. He originally went in alone and helped some poor students borrow the books they wanted to read. Later, he found it troublesome, so he settled down with the officials and asked him to bring people in every time.

It's actually very troublesome to do this. Most of the students are good, but there are two or three out of ten who steal books and are ungrateful. As time goes by, Du Wulang's enthusiasm has become less enthusiastic, and he always behaves businesslikely.

There are fewer and fewer supervisors in Chang'an doing this, but he is still doing it anyway.

After registering these students, Du Wulang said a few words and asked Quanfu to take them out. He sat there with his head down and copied the list.

Someone walked into the lobby.

"Hey, you...Xue Bai? Are you back?"

Xue Bai, still covered in dust, sat down in the hall and asked, "I've been going to Lishan for more than a month. What are you busy with?"

"I'm very busy." Du Wulang smiled and counted on his fingers, "We raised another parrot and a Chuzhou cat. We planted azaleas, chrysanthemums, and plum blossoms in the back garden. I even carved a The sandalwood bracelet is given to Yun Niang... there are too many things to say, and I can’t explain them all at the moment, what about you?”

"It's just an ordinary trip to the Huaqing Palace."

"It's really boring for you to be an official, so why are you back now?"

The reason why Xue Bai returned to Chang'an was because the plan to send Yan Shiwei to the outside world had begun, and he needed to start handing over official duties and prepare for the examination of the Ministry of Personnel.

It is estimated that he will not be able to live in Chang'an City for too long. If he returns to Xue's house in Xuanyangfang, Qinglan will still be busy cleaning up. It is better to stay in Du's house for a while, and it is also convenient to go to Yan's house in Dunhuafang.

Naturally, Lu Fengniang welcomed Xue Bai very much. Since Qinglan was already Xue Bai's concubine, she let them live in the house in the west wing.

~~

At night, after Xue Bai took a bath, he went to his study to discuss with Du Youlin about the appointment of deputy envoy for water and land transportation. In addition, as he was appointed as a local official, he also had to hire staff, and Du Youlin also helped recommend this matter.

The Du sisters were also there, and everyone was chatting and enjoying themselves like a family.

Until the moon hid behind the clouds, whispers resounded in the corridor.

"You ran so far and you haven't told us in detail why."

Du Wei pulled Du Jin over and whispered: "Be considerate, he will never be wrong."

"Before the business was finished, the eldest sister started to be considerate."

"Stop talking nonsense."

"Someone is coming, let's talk about it at night."

"If you don't go, Qinglan can guard you. He is the one who has a reputation and a share."

There were footsteps in the backyard, and the three of them quickly ran away.

……

"Xue Bai is going to Dongduji County." Du Wulang walked with Xue Yunniang in his hand and muttered: "It's rare for me to envy him for something."

"Why does Qi Lang envy my brother?"

"How comfortable it is. I haven't been to Luoyang yet, and I don't have to be controlled by my grandma and grandma."

Having said this, Du Wulang had an idea, and an idea popped into his mind, and he couldn't get it out of his mind.

He and Xue Yunniang discussed in a low voice, and excitedly ran to Xue Bai's door and knocked on the door.

"Who?"

"I have something to tell you."

"Wait a minute."

After waiting for a long time, Xue Bai opened the door slightly and came out, talking to Du Wulang in the courtyard.

"It's like my sister's incense."

"Qinglan borrowed the second sister's incense, what do you want to say?"

"I heard that you plan to take Xue Xin with you. If Xue Xin goes, don't my husband and the others have to go too?"

"Yes."

"Don't you want to hire a staff? How about hiring me?"

Xue Bai asked: "What can you do?"

"I... I can write and do calculations, and the bride price is low."

"Okay, get ready."

Du Wulang was overjoyed, cheered and turned to go back to his room. The next moment, he suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but say "Hey" with great regret.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to go to Luoyang. If I leave, how will those students go to the East Library to borrow books?"

He really wanted to go to Luoyang, and he didn't have a deep friendship with those students, but after thinking about it, he felt that it would be nothing if he didn't go. Whether or not he could borrow books was related to the future of those students.

Xue Bai turned around and glanced at Du Wulang, and said: "Just think of a way, you can't always carry me."

"How can I make the East Hall allow students other than supervisors and rural tributes to be eligible?"

"Aren't you the fifth son of Chunwei? If you want to be my staff, how can you have no skills at all?"

~~

The sound of morning drums entered the Youxiang Mansion in Pingkangfang. Li Linfu opened his eyes from his sleep and woke up immediately.

He went to bed after the fourth watch last night and didn't sleep for long. At this time, his body was still very tired, so he decided to sleep for a while, but he couldn't fall asleep anyway. All he was thinking about was one after another.

In fact, after the assassination of the saint, he, the prime minister who stayed behind in the court, was under the greatest pressure. He had to prove his innocence and give an account to the saint. At the same time, the national affairs of the entire Tang Dynasty still weighed on him, and it became increasingly heavy.

Thinking about working so hard but still being reviled by the world, he couldn't help but get excited and got up.

His genius had just dawned. He sat in front of the mirror, looking at the sparse and messy gray hair on his head, and the dark circles around his eyes. All kinds of emotions came to him...no one could tell him.

His first wife had passed away, and although he had met other concubines over the years, he never let anyone know where he slept that night. Although there are more than 200 descendants, they are all ruthless. When he gets old all his life, he will only be left with the position of prime minister with all the power in the world.

Dressed neatly, he looks like the right-hand minister Li Linfu with a strong spirit.

When a group of staff rushed over, one of them was the first to say: "Right Prime Minister, this is Yang Guozhong's gift list. He also sent a gift to Chen Xilie, who wants to seek the position of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs."

"Tell Wang Xian and Luo Xishi." Li Linfu said without anger: "Let Shihu know who the Yushitai listens to."

Yang Guozhong stretched his hand too far, so he decided to teach Yang Dang a lesson. This time he planned to pull out Du Youlin's nail in the official department.

Li Linfu glanced at everyone seriously and said: "The candidates for the Minister of Civil Affairs and the Doctor of Gongkao have been carefully considered, Miao Jinqing and Song Yao."

Miao Jinqing and Song Yao were the two examiners who became the laughingstock of the world when they singled out the "white number one scholar". However, they have good family backgrounds, high talents, and sufficient qualifications. They have been demoted for five years and now it is time for them to recover.

Li Linfu once served as the minister of the Ministry of Personnel and always regarded the Ministry of Personnel as a forbidden concubine. Now that Da Xixun was suddenly demoted, he had to respond quickly and recruit some of his old confidants back.

"Please seal the envelope and deliver it to Huaqing Palace."

"Here."

Normally a saint would not interfere with this matter, but the situation has been tense recently, and Li Linfu did not dare to take charge.

After the official affairs, several official affairs were handled one after another. A staff member hurried over and reported: "Right Prime Minister, the king has sent someone here."

"Call."

The person who came was a Taoist priest named Ren Haichuan. He looked like an immortal and had a noble demeanor. After arriving at the meeting hall, he asked Li Linfuping to retire from the staff.

"Right Prime Minister, the saint asked about the disaster in Henan."

"What's the matter?"

Although they were separated by a screen, Ren Haichuan still leaned forward and said: "The demon thief who was involved in the assassination case was a victim of the disaster who came to Hanjiacang. He was taken in by Yanshi Lieutenant Wang Yanxiang and sent to Lishan. Now Wang Yanxiang is dead." How can we get people to Lishan Mountain?"

"Taiwan Fu also doesn't know about this."

"Wang Fei didn't know, but he came to ask the truth?" Li Linfu said: "Go and ask him, who holds the concurrent posts of Minister of Household Affairs, Land and Water Transport Envoy, Cashier of Hanjiacang in the Two Capitals, and Supervisor of the Capital?"

Ren Haichuan was a little confused: "Right Prime Minister, these positions were originally held by Yang Shenjin and his brothers, so... Taifu really doesn't know."

"Purchase?"

"Don't dare."

"Then it will be dealt with properly." Li Linfu said, "What else is there to say?"

"I can handle it properly, but the saint plans to appoint Xue Bai as Yanshi Lieutenant." Ren Haichuan responded in a low voice, "Taiwan Fu doesn't know what the Right Prime Minister stands for, so he ordered me to remind the Right Prime Minister."

Li Linfu was really surprised.

He analyzed the pros and cons of this matter until he was interrupted by the sound of a warning.

"Alang, Xue Bai wants to see you."

"Let him in...remove the screen."

"Here."

~~

Li Linfu was not happy when he saw Xue Bai. He threw an official document over and scolded: "This is a good thing you did."

The official document mentioned the appointment of officials of the Press Court, but the saint made a very clear decision on this matter, making it clear that he did not want to leave the Press Court in the hands of the prime minister. Everyone knows this. Li Linfu is just venting his dissatisfaction.

Xue Bai said with a smile: "The right prime minister is in charge of the world, but he has not been able to get me a Chang'an captain. How can I, a school secretary, get so many official positions for the right prime minister?"

There is a huge disparity in status between them. When making deals, he wants fairness while Li Linfu is domineering, and they end up unhappy every time.

He was laughing at the failure of the deal. Li Linfu found this smile disgusting and his face turned cold.

"Of course." Xue Bai said: "If the right minister wants to publish the newspaper, just follow the instructions. It's simple."

"is it?"

"I wonder who the Right Prime Minister wants to appoint to replace Zhaoying Wei?"

Xue Bai could feel Li Longji's subtle psychological changes, but decided that Li Linfu could not understand such a trivial matter that was not easy to explain.

Then, it was absolutely impossible for Li Linfu to guess the reason why he went to Yanshi County. So he simply pretended to come and make another deal, and approached Zhao Yingwei on the condition of publishing in the newspaper.

"The true picture has been noted, and I will appoint you as the Yanshi Wei. You are a very good scholar. You will be promoted from the school secretary to the Ji Wei in half a year."

"I don't want to go." Xue Bai said.

Li Linfu remained calm and took an official document casually, as if he didn't want to pay attention to him.

Xue Baisui said slowly: "With such a big case happening in Lishan, the right minister probably wants to hear my opinion? After all, I am a person who has experienced it."

"If you want to tell me, I will take the time to listen to you." Li Linfu responded casually, but in fact he was no longer interested in reading the official document.

"If it was ordered by an important minister in the court, the assassin would not be so careless. But someone must have been negligent, otherwise the assassin could not reach the imperial court. For example, as Tai Le Cheng, I failed to realize in advance that Liu Hua was a demon thief, but obviously Someone in this case was more negligent...Wang Fei."

"Why?"

"He was appointed as the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the cost of building the Huaqing Palace passed through his hands. He was also the land and water transport envoy. How did the victims get from Henan Prefecture to Guanzhong? He was also the cashier of Hanjiacang in the two capitals, so why did he fail to provide relief to the victims in time? ?”

Li Linfu said: "If you talk so freely, everyone in the court will be negligent."

"Yes, I have not shied away from my guilt, and I have already shouldered the consequences." Xue Bai said, "But Wang Fei's negligence was even greater, so the sage asked me to go to Yanshi to investigate him."

Li Linfu was still looking at the official document attentively, and asked calmly: "Isn't it because Yang Guozhong is jealous of Wang Fei that he framed him just now?"

This is what makes him great. Although he is busy, he can always analyze people's hearts based on their interests. This method made An Lushan exclaimed as a "god", but it could not scare Xue Bai.

Xue Bai believed that the words "The saint wants to investigate the king's pheasant" would definitely make Li Linfu extremely concerned. He should not have read a single word of the official document in his hand.

Of course, this is just speculation.

"Yang Guozhong is stupid and does not help." Xue Bai said: "It was just negligence, and he framed many people. The saint is sure that it was not the king's plan. However, the saint does not care about the monsters and thieves, but cares about the people of the world. What happened like this A big mistake cannot be treated as if it never happened."

"The saint asked you to visit Henan?"

"Yes."

Li Linfu pondered for a long time and decided to talk to Xue Bai about Henan first. As the superior, he had to set the tone of the matter first.

"Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the system of land equalization, government troops, renting and transferring, etc. have gradually deteriorated. Do you know how the real system was reformed and achieved results? The treasury was filled without any damage to the bones, so that the saints could conquer foreign countries with martial arts. Expanding the territory, the internal affairs of the country are flourishing, and the people are also provided with relief and comfort."

Xue Bai said: "Please give me some advice from your right minister."

"I will give you an example." Li Linfu twisted his beard and said, "In the 21st year of Kaiyuan, there was no food in Guanzhong, and Henan and Hebei were affected at the same time. What did the court do at that time? Following the old practice, they only ate in Luoyang."

Xue Bai interrupted: "Why eat in Luoyang?"

He should have known such a simple thing, but he had to tell Li Linfu.

"It is easy to transport the grain from the Jianghuai River to Luoyang, but it is troublesome to transport it to Guanzhong. The Yellow River is rushing, and the three gates are three ghost gates. They are the mainstays of the year, and almost half of them are overturned. Land transportation is even more difficult. It takes a bucket of money to transport a bucket of rice. At that time, we had to go to Just eat in Luoyang."

"I see."

"At that time, there were many mediocre prime ministers. Zhang Jiuling served as the envoy to open rice fields in Henan and opened water villages in narrow villages. In order to open up old river channels, he forced laborers to be recruited, which delayed the farming season and resulted in very little harvest. Pei Yaoqing served as the envoy to transport Jianghuai to Henan and proposed the idea of ​​"transfer water transport" After passing through the millet method, analyzing counties, setting up counties, building warehouses, setting up warehouses, and digging mountains for eighteen miles, the cost is not small, and it is still 'a bucket of money transports a bucket of rice'."

Xue Bai said: "Zhang Qujiang's open fields and Changchun palace fields totaled more than 340 hectares and were distributed to the poor. In the past three years, Pei Gong made Guanzhong store 7 million dan of grain, saving 300,000 gu of freight. In the eyes of the Right Prime Minister, it is all mediocre?"

He had actually heard Du Jin talk about these old things.

To transport millet by water, simply put, it means "centralized storage and segmented transportation". Heyin warehouse, salt warehouse, and Jijin warehouse were built on the Cao River, and the water transportation was divided into four sections. For example, ships from Yangzhou can unload their cargo and return home when they arrive at Heyincang, instead of continuing westward as in the past. Heyincang has its own ships responsible for transporting grain to the west.

In this way, greatly increasing the efficiency of water transportation will have a profound impact on subsequent water transportation.

Pei Yaoqing had made such a great contribution. Someone told him that paying 300,000 yuan to a saint was enough to show his merit. But he replied, "Is it acceptable to use national wealth to seek favor?"

Therefore, the next year after seven million stones of grain were shipped, Pei Yaoqing was removed from his position because of Li Linfu's jealousy because of his friendship with Zhang Jiuling.

"They're just mediocre people." Li Linfu sighed and said, "The ones who really make a difference are Benxiang and Niu Xianke."

"But I wonder what the right prime minister has to say?"

"Hebian." Li Linfu said: "Compared to Zhang Jiuling's 340 hectares of fields and Pei Yaoqing's three years and seven million stones, when Niu Xianke was in the Hexi Festival, he saved huge amounts of money, the warehouses were full, and the equipment was refined. strength."

"How to make peace with Bian?"

"Change the water grain to Nabu and light goods. In this way, the burden of water transportation is greatly reduced, and the Ministry of Household Affairs can use money to collect grain from the local people. In good years, the court collects grain from the people at a price higher than the market price, but in famine years, it will be used Relief. And the purchase price is determined according to the amount of land owned by the farmer. Poor people with less land can get more money."

Li Linfu solemnly said: "In the twenty-seventh year of Kaiyuan, Hebian was promoted all over the world. The government collected grain and added one or two cents per bucket to the current price. Farmers competed to sell grain to make huge profits, and they did not even feel the hard work during transportation... …This is the original subsidy for the poor.”

Xue Bai seemed puzzled and asked again: "What does the Prime Minister mean when you say these...?"

"The country has been suffering from many shortcomings. Yao Chong, Song Jing, and Zhang Jiuling did what was easy to do, but they cherished their feathers and did not dare to implement good strategies. And the prime minister would rather give up the path of cultivation and immortality than stay in the secular world as the prime minister. "I will assist the wise king at the top and keep the people safe at the bottom. I will not hesitate to offend others and bear infamy, but I must also make achievements that are beneficial to the country and this grand event."

"Does the Right Prime Minister really think so?"

In his opinion, if Li Linfu just said some high-sounding words to set the tone, it would be just hypocrisy; and if Li Linfu really regarded himself as an "immortal official prime minister" and thought he was an excellent reformer, that would be foolish.

There is no justice, just to get endless money for the superiors, so what kind of governance is there? What more can we talk about?

It would be better to replace a mediocre person sitting in this position, unable to do anything, and have to let the emperor often come to Luoyang to eat, and not so much to expand the territory and live in luxury.

Li Linfu did not answer Xue Bai's question, but said slowly: "The purpose of peace is to harvest food in good years and provide relief in famine years, so that the people will not lack food and clothing. Now that the warehouses are abundant, it is impossible for disaster relief to be ineffective."

"What if there is?"

"That was a man-made disaster. When the victims gathered in Luoyang, it was Tianbao Sixth Year, right? At that time, the transshipment envoy of Hanjiacang was Yang Shenjin, and then Wang He, do you understand?"

Xue Bai understood that Li Linfu was making a statement.

The prime minister knew very well that He Bian must exploit the people. But the problem does not lie with him, but with the execution level of Yang Shenjin and Wang He.

——"The saint was able to live in Luoyang for ten years without having to live in Luoyang. This is all due to the original situation. If you find out that it was He Bian who caused the victims to rebel, then let the truth take care of it. But as long as it has nothing to do with He Bian, it is okay to bite the king's pheasant. Okay, let’s leave it to Yang Shenjin, I won’t care about the truth.”

Xue Bai only needed to say "understand" to reply, indicating that the right minister would not be implicated in the sage's visit to Henan this time.

In this way, both parties can live in peace.

Xue Bai was silent for a while, and then he actually started to talk about the conditions. He wanted to find a land and sea transport deputy envoy for Du Youlin. The tone was very high at first.

"Thank you for your advice, Prime Minister. But I am young and of low status. I am very uneasy going to Henan to investigate such a big case. According to my brother's wishes, I asked Du Youlin to move to the land and sea as a transit envoy..."

Li Linfu glanced at Xue Bai coldly and told him to stop talking like this, because it was obviously impossible.

"You go ahead, the truth has its own considerations."

"I understand what the right minister means. I will wait for the right minister's reply and take my leave."

~~

After Xue Bai left, Li Linfu thought about it for a long time, and suddenly got up and found some comments.

This is an examination of Xue Bai written by Da Xixun. One is the best and the fourth is the best.

Li Linfu originally didn't want to move the prince to another official position, but after today's meeting, he realized that since the sage asked Xue Bai to leave Guanzhong, he had some distrust of Wang Fei... so he took out his seal and stamped it.

At the same time, he murmured something.

"Taifu? Is it also worthy of being called 'Taifu'?"

He was talking about immortal officials, changes, and common people... After all, it was only by excluding those who threatened the phase that he could feel more comfortable.

(End of this chapter)