Sword of Coming

Chen Ping'an walked out of his ancestral home, Niping Lane and Huaihuang County, and walked with Xiaomo towards the tallest mountain in the west, Beiyue Piyun Mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, there is an endless stream of pilgrims and busy traffic. There is also a mountain market here that specializes in selling mountain products and herbal medicines. The things are naturally genuine. Mountain products can be fake, but the prices are not fair. Local pilgrims from Chuzhou , will not stop here, just go straight up the mountain to offer incense, seek wealth, marriage, and peace. There are places to go in the mountains. Good men and women from other places spend a lot of wasted money here. No wonder they set up street stalls here. The mountain men are more eloquent than the others. Poria cocos dug from the back mountain of Piyun Mountain or thunder-cracked wood chopped from Aotou Peak Mountain can drive away ghosts and evil spirits just by placing them at home. Otherwise, they are from immortals. You’ve always heard of Ganoderma lucidum from Caoshan Mountain and Xiancaoshan Mountain, do you know it? Gui Na Luo Shan Guan is one of the small hills. The guest wants to ask why others dare not go there, but I can go dig the Ganoderma lucidum there? Good question! Coincidentally, the mountain owner named Chen Ping'an and I are distant relatives who used to visit us frequently to pay New Year's greetings. Our relationship is not ordinary. If we meet on the road in the county town, he has to call him uncle. Every New Year's Eve During the Shimeng night dinner, that boy toasted me quite a lot at the table, don’t you believe it? I can confront Chen Pingan face to face. As long as you pay for the travel expenses, when we get to Luolu Mountain, you will see whether he dares not to show up, whether he has to call me uncle, and whether he recognizes this relative...

Chen Pingan squatted beside the stall with his hands in sleeves, listening with gusto and nodding frequently. When the man saw someone cheering, he smiled at Chen Pingan.

Xiaomo, who wears a yellow hat and blue shoes, uses Xiaomili's mantra to say it, which makes his brain hurt when he hears it.

Wei Bo, who had used a blinding trick, appeared next to the two of them and asked with a smile: "Are you two so leisurely?"

Chen Pingan stood up and said in his heart: "I just found a piece of natal porcelain in Song Jixin's house next door. Based on the size of the piece, it is estimated that it is just the last piece. There are no clues yet."

Wei Bo cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Congratulations."

Chen Ping'an said with a headache: "No more than one piece."

Wei Bo asked: "Since there is only one broken piece of porcelain left, don't you feel anything in your heart?"

Chen Ping'an shook his head and said: "The blame lies here. There was a little bit of trouble in the past, but now I have no clue."

When he and Lu Chen temporarily borrowed Taoism, they seemed to be very close. After returning to the fourteenth level of cultivation, the subtle pull in the dark was gone.

Is it possible that the last piece of broken porcelain is in Qingming Tianxia?

The problem is that Lu Chen has indeed never done such a thing, and Chen Pingan also believes that Master Lu cannot do such an unconscionable act, so who will lead him to Qing Ming Tianxia?

Chen Ping'an smiled and said: "Not to mention this, has Wei Shanjun thought about the god's name?"

"Let's talk about this over the wine table."

Wei Bo didn't take them up the mountain, but to a wine shop in the "small town" at the foot of the mountain. It was opened by Huang Erniang in the small town. She hired someone to look after the shop. She was a semicolon. Her son, Bai Shang, was a recognized child prodigy. , a real seed for reading. I once studied in the school run by the Chen family in Longweixi for several years. Now I have achieved fame. I am going to study abroad. I will be very promising in the future. I can’t say I will go there again in a few years. When she went to the capital to take the exam, she turned out to be an official. Huang Erniang, who came from a well-off family, was already in her prime, but she had not thought about finding a man in these years. In the dialect of her hometown, a man who was married to a widow was called "pin". Earlier, the drunkards all thought that Zheng Dafeng, who was looking at the gate in the east, had this opportunity. Who didn't know that every time Zheng Dafeng drank on credit, don't listen to how sharp and mean Huang Erniang's mouth was at that time, just look at the woman's eyes, It's bright, but it's just that after so many years, there's no sign of a drink. A man and a woman alone are not delaying each other.

Today, Huang Erniang personally watched the business in the wine shop here. Wei Bo chose a wine table and ordered three kilograms of the best wine from the MILF. She laughed softly and said, "Since she knew that Zheng Dafeng returned to his hometown, I come here often, and indirectly help the Etiquette Department of the Tiger Mansion to save a lot of drinks on the mountain. I have to take care of the business here, both in public and private matters, and emotionally and rationally. Mr. Xiaomo, I will be here later. Please pay the bill, I'm afraid Shanzhu Chen will be gone as soon as he takes a pee on the excuse of going to the toilet."

Xiao Mo nodded in agreement first, and then helped explain: "Brother Wei has misunderstood. My young master drinks generously at the wine table, and the payment is even more unambiguous."

Wei Bo smiled and said: "Oh? How come I only heard that the second shopkeeper is at the Great Wall of Sword Qi and is the best at persuading people to drink at the table? He doesn't do any credit?"

Chen Ping'an smiled, drank half a bowl of wine, pursed his lips, and said softly as usual: "It's not that I never do credit, I made two exceptions secretly."

There were only two exceptions. After that, the liquor store had no chance to give credit to anyone who wanted to make an exception.

The wine tables, bowls, and drinks in the wine shop are always there.

Chen Pingan took the initiative to change the topic and asked: "Isn't the God's name 'Night Tour'?"

Wei Bo said: "It's not a night tour, I'm going to make up my own god name 'Lingze'. As for the booklet, I added more than 30,000 words, just sign it, you have to promise me this at the wine table today, I'll return the booklet to you, otherwise I won't be friends in the future, Chen Ping'an, don't think I'm joking, I'm serious about what you said."

Chen Ping'an nodded, "Weishan Jun is a powerful official and I dare not disobey."

Wei Bo glared and said, "Isn't that true?"

Chen Ping'an hurriedly raised the wine bowl and said: "Piyunshan has not yet been enshrined by the Confucian Temple and given the title of Lord Weishan. It has a good temper and will be able to pay it back in the future. Do we, poor relatives, still visit each other?" "

Xiao Mo nodded and raised the wine bowl. Without saying a word, he drank it first as a sign of respect. Xiao Mo then said: "Don't forget each other whether you are rich or noble, Wei Shanjun should not."

Wei Bo picked up the wine bowl, bumped it with Chen Ping'an, turned to look at Xiao Mo, and said with helplessness on his face: "Xiao Mo, don't be like this kind of person. He has a good capacity for drinking, but his wine quality is too bad."

I don’t encourage you to drink at the table, I don’t treat you as a friend, there is no friendship, and drinking is just water. If you don't toast my drink, you just don't treat me as a brother... Listen, is this kind of thing said by a human?

Chen Ping ignored it and just recited the word "Lingze" silently.

According to the interpretation of the word, Lingze means heaven's blessing and can be used as a metaphor for a country's moral governance.

Before Wei Bo served as the Tudong of Qidun Mountain, he was the Lord of Dayueshan of the Shenshui Kingdom, a great dynasty in ancient Shu.

The divine name "Lingze" is quite reminiscent of the hometown. It's not that there is any taboo in the officialdom, but for Wei Bo, it has advantages and disadvantages. To be honest, it is not as beneficial as "night tour". As the mountain king of Beiyue in a continent, his divine title is related to the rain and dew. Moreover, once Wei Bo chooses this divine title, he will be completely tied to the Song family of Da Li. After all, half of the mountains and rivers of the continent are the territory of Da Li. So-called Virtuous government means that if the Dali Dynasty has long-term peace and prosperity and political clarity, Wei Bo will benefit from it. However, if the Song family of Dali encounters a situation in the future when the emperor is ignorant and the government is not upright, the pure golden body of the tiger Wei Bo will It will naturally be affected to a certain extent.

So Chen Pingan asked again: "Have you really thought about it?"

Wei Bo said: "As a tiger, with a divine reputation, isn't it the best of both worlds?"

Chen Pingan smiled and said: "If Mr. Wei Shan explains it this way, it makes some sense."

Now that Wei Bo had made up his mind, Chen Pingan stopped gesticulating, clinked the wine bowls, and each drank the wine in the bowls.

Chen Pingan said: "His Majesty the Emperor will be very surprised, pleasantly surprised, um, unexpectedly happy. He will feel that all these years of trust and support for Piyunshan have not been in vain."

Wei Bo smiled and said: "To put it bluntly, Your Majesty will be glad that he did not raise an unfamiliar white-eyed wolf, right?"

Chen Ping'an complained: "This is too ugly to say. I don't belittle myself like you. Hurry up and punish yourself with a bowl and fill it up as soon as possible."

Wei Bo looked at Xiao Mo, "How is your young master's ability to persuade him to drink? Did I misunderstand him?"

Without saying a word, Xiao Mo drank a bowl by himself, "Young master, what you say is that you should persuade someone to drink. It's reasonable and reasonable."

Wei Bo clicked his tongue and said, "Master Chen Shan, can you find me a follower like this?"

Chen Ping'an took a sip of wine and said, "One of a kind, there is no semicolon."

When Xiao Mo heard that he was happy, he wanted to imitate Zheng Dafeng and raise one with his young master. However, Chen Ping'an's eyes immediately signaled them to stop the internal strife. Xiao Mo then silently moved the wine bowl towards Wei Bo, "I'll mention one first. Will Wei Shanjun mention it?" , mention how much you are willing to drink, and whether you are willing to drink a full drink depends on the depth of our friendship."

Wei Bo was furious, "Good guys, you two are collaborating to cause trouble. Have you forgotten whose territory this is?"

Chen Ping'an waved his palm and signaled Wei Bo not to dawdle, it's just a drink, you're the only one talking too much nonsense.

Wei Bao laughed angrily and said: "Xiao Mo, I don't know you anymore, so I'll leave the conversation here for now. If you persuade me to drink once, I'll drink it. Anyway, every time we drink, our friendship becomes weaker."

Xiaomo was a little at a loss for a while.

Chen Pingan smiled and said: "What are you afraid of? The friendship between you two is as deep as the sea. If you want the wine glass to bottom out, you have to drink down several wine shops in succession. Wei Shanjun is using the provoking method with you."

Wei Bo was speechless for a moment and could only raise his hands and clasped his fists to beg for mercy.

Chen Pingan asked from the bottom of his heart: "Changchun Hou Yanghua, who is now crossing Qidu, is she from a similar background to you, and is she the reincarnation of a certain god from the old Shenshui Kingdom?"

Wei Bo smiled and said nothing.

Chen Pingan asked no more questions.

Wei Bo clicked his tongue and said, "That uncle Chen of yours is fine. He didn't have much fun drinking at home, so he brought his friends to hang out at the foot of the mountain. They had a morning drink here, and he almost raised his voice to let me show up. Helping with the guests."

The boy in green swaggered with three friends, a Dragon Slayer at the Fourteenth Realm, a Liuxiazhou Ascension Realm, and a Jade Pu Realm Sword Immortal. They were obviously here with him, Wei Bao.

Chen Ping'an smiled and said: "Who told you that he had been rejected a few times back then? I feel aggrieved. But I must clarify something with you. Believe it or not, Jing Qing never said a word to you when I was here. No, there wasn't even a single word of complaint. What came out of his mouth were all good things. You didn't know what the scene was like. While you were full of grievances, you had to hold your nose and say good things about you, which made it difficult for him. "

Wei Bo was a little surprised. He thought that Chen Lingjun, a little bastard, would only complain and say a lot of bad things about himself on his master's side.

Xiao Mo nodded and said: "Jing Qing was on Luolu Mountain. He only said that he was on my side. He also never said anything wrong with Wei Shanjun. He only said that he and you have been friends for many years. They are like brothers who have reunited after being separated for many years. They have a good relationship. ”

Wei Bo rubbed his chin, feeling a little guilty.

Wei Bo suddenly said: "Your Majesty, who left Beijing early to go south, changed his planned route. Instead of returning to the capital, he chose to continue south. He has now entered the boundary of Yunzhou. Judging from the situation, he will go to Sui'an County, Yanzhou Prefecture. Obviously, he is heading south. I came looking for you."

Chen Pingan hesitated for a moment and said, "In the future, just pretend you don't know about this kind of thing."

Once he was just a boy who secretly drank alone. Later, at the table of the second shopkeeper's wine shop and on the roadside, he was probably like a boy in Tsing Yi. He drank alone and had various tastes, but there was no such thing as "embarrassing friends".

Wei Bo smiled and said: "The old coachman who stayed in Yuzhang County is just like the motionless fireflies in the courtyard. I don't think I can even see him."

Chen Pingan said: "Is this a reason? Do you have the ability to find a worse one?"

Wei Bo raised the wine bowl and said energetically: "I want to drink, do you still need an excuse?"

Chen Ping'an let out an ouch, quickly raised his buttocks, held the bowl with both hands, and said with a flattering face: "That's good to say, the best thing to do is to take care of things at the wine table! Xiaomo, don't be stunned, we must accompany Wei Shanjun Take one."

————

Yunzhou Yanzhou Prefecture, Sui'an County.

There are green mountains, green water, long fields, and mountain flowers are about to burn.

The sun was just right, and in the sun drying area outside the village's pulp mill, the ground was covered with pulp that was as white as shining silver. Donkeys were grinding and grinding, and the sight of the young and strong man was following the young woman not far away. The young lady's bulging breasts and plump buttocks made the men swallow their saliva and speak a little louder. The old man sat in the shade of the eaves, smoking a dry cigarette, mentally calculating the amount of rain since spring, and thinking about the year. There are blessings and Spring Festival couplets written by the grandchildren on the door. The writing is immature, but there is a sense of vitality. On the road, someone was carrying two flat round bamboo cages on their shoulders, with fluffy chickens inside, chirping and chirping.

Two carriages slowly passed by the boundary marker between the two counties. Looking up, they could see a Wenchang Tower in the distance.

By the side of a tributary of the Ximei River, there is a pavilion with black tiles and white walls on the roadside, and people are already waiting here.

Next to the pavilion, there is a centuries-old torreya tree, like a huge umbrella canopy, which just covers the small pavilion for people to rest. The shade is gloomy and gloomy, like spring water.

The two Dali officials in the pavilion, Pei Tong and Chu Liang, both hold important positions. They are the governor and general of Yunzhou respectively, and they are the top leaders of the local military and administration of a state. On this trip, they left the heavily guarded government office with only one attendant. According to Dali regulations, the court would provide a varying number of monks with the army for these feudal officials who were in charge of one side. Non-official officials who are temporarily awarded "Secretary Lang" outside the official position can receive two salaries for an indefinite period of time and are relatively free, usually every three to five years. This is not just a show. After the Aquarius Continent war ended, there were more than a hundred assassinations of important ministers from the southern states of Da Li in the past few years, overtly and covertly. The assassins included the remnants of the wild monsters who failed to escape from the Aquarius Continent. , there are also some monks from various countries who are full of hatred for the Dali Song family. Regarding the latter, the Dali court had already made a decision in the hands of the national advisor Cui Chan, not to implicate their family and not to anger the vassal court.

Two monk attendants were sitting at the entrance of the pavilion. They were both young in appearance. They came from Tongtian River in Zhenwu Mountain and Dalugou in Fengxue Temple respectively.

This time, Pei Tong and Chu Liang, two important civil and military officials who grew up in poverty, received a secret order not long ago, asking them to find a place to meet them at the border of Sui'an County today.

Two carriages stopped on the side of the road. Emperor Song He raised the curtains of the carriage and waved his hands, indicating that Governor Pei and General Chu did not need to be polite.

Since he was not in the front palace or the back palace in the capital, Emperor Song He was very casual. He stretched his hand around the back, rubbed his buttocks, and joked: "The carriage ride along the way was so bumpy that I almost had sex."

Pei Tong immediately understood that the official roads in Yanzhou Mansion under his jurisdiction needed to be repaired.

Song He didn't mind that Pei Cishi was thinking too much about it, so he walked straight into the pavilion. The two secretaries bowed their hands to His Majesty the Emperor. Song He smiled and said their names and chatted for a few words.

Picking up his robe, Song He casually sat on a long stone bench in the pavilion. There was a big hole in the wall next to the river. The breeze was gentle, but it was a bit cool. There were some charcoal graffiti by country children on the wall. Song He looked up a few times, stretched out his hand and pressed it a few times, smiled and asked everyone to sit down and chat. Queen Song Mian sat next to the emperor, and Yu Yu, a monk with the character of Earthly Branch Xu, sat next to her.

Zhao Yao, the minister of punishment, and Li Baozhen, the weaving officer of Yuzhou, were sitting together.

The old Longzhou of Dali, now the new Chuzhou, does not have a state general, so Chu Liang, as the general of Yunzhou, is also responsible for commanding the army at the border of Chuzhou, just like the general of Yuzhou, Cao Wu, who is also in charge of the military affairs of Hongzhou. Garrison and several pass military towns.

Song He said with a smile: "On the way here, I just flipped through a few books of Sui'an County Chronicles and found that there were many private academies opened in the past hundred years. There were more than sixty of them, large and small."

Within a county, there are academies everywhere, and the sound of books is audible. They may not be considered a high-ranking family, not even a local county magistrate. They are just a scholarly family with local farming and studying. Therefore, the cultural fortune of Yanzhou Prefecture is not too rich, but it is better than the orderly circulation. Perhaps in the eyes of gas watchers, in those large counties, all kinds of landscapes and qi are condensed in each family, like various colorful orbs, dazzling, but they are very different from each other. So Sui'an County is like a white jade plate containing cultural pearls of different sizes.

Pei Tong immediately said: "Reporting to your Majesty, Sui'an County has been a land of scholars since ancient times. Although the products are poor, the local people attach great importance to farming, reading and inheriting the family. Among the dozens of counties in the entire Yunzhou territory, it can be said to be the best in literary style and education. One of the counties, but in fact, half of the academies were newly built in the past twenty years. For example, the largest Shixia Academy has just been built. In addition, there are Yunlin Academy in Zitong and Jiaochi Academy in Hengtang. They were founded by local sages who pooled their money, and officials who had served in Beijing for many years and then retired to their hometowns spent their own money. They then used their personal connections to invite literary celebrities and scholars to come here to give lectures. Over time, the number of academies became the largest. The academies in Jueyan Prefecture and Sui'an County have a special feature. Once they are opened, they can almost last for many years. There are always teachers teaching and students studying in the academies. Unlike other places, they often give up halfway due to various reasons."

Although Chu Liang was an official in the same state and thought he was a big boss, he actually didn't have many opportunities to interact with Pei Tong, who came from the imperial examination. But today, just listening to the words of Governor Pei, General Yunzhou began to admire Pei Tong. His speaking skills are worthy of being a scholar with a Jinshi background. There is something in his words but also something else. Since most academies in Sui'an County were established in recent years, aren't they the result of His Majesty's emphasis on civil education? As for His Majesty's "martial arts", the whole Haoran is known to the whole world. Even if he gives up half of Aquarius Continent, Da Li is still one of the ten great dynasties of Haoran.

Song He nodded and said: "Remember that there is a record in a county chronicle that a foreign master once taught here and left a motto of the academy, teach people before teaching, and teach people to be real people?"

Pei Tong immediately answered: "If the official remembers correctly, this sentence comes from the first mountain chief of Wufeng Academy. This sentence is engraved on a stone tablet."

Song He smiled. It seemed that there was a reason why Governor Pei was able to get an unusual "excellent" in the two consecutive official evaluations of the Beijing Chao Plan.

Cui Chan was not only the imperial master of Dali, but also the mentor of Emperor Song He. When Song He was still the prince, he taught Song He an official "heart secret", saying that the generals in Dali's capital city would become their younger brothers as officials. They are greedy for fame rather than money, because they feel that the entire country was built by their fathers, and they are born with an ambition to protect the country. However, in this way, they are prone to overachieving and are not familiar with local people's customs. When they do things, they will waste people and money. They are just ambitious, and the difficulty lies in knowing their shortcomings, so the court needs to guard against their arrogance and impetuosity.

Officials with humble backgrounds, who grew up in the urban and rural areas, have been afraid of poverty since they were young, and are even more worried about money. On the way to becoming an official, as they are promoted step by step, they are prone to be greedy for money. Even if they are not greedy, they cannot stop it. The relatives and clan members around them suddenly become rich and forgetful about their past. They are unable to be content with what they have done. They dominate the local area and act unscrupulously. In fact, their squandering is the result of the court's reputation in the minds of the people. Therefore, the court needs to keep them clean and honest. .

At this moment, His Majesty the Emperor looked at Pei Tong, who had become the governor of a state, and said with a smile: "Before leaving Beijing, I specially asked Mr. Zhao from the Ministry of Household Affairs for two pieces of characters, which are the family motto of their Tianshui Zhao family. Just put it on the carriage and give it to you later."

Pei Tong and Chu Liang quickly stood up to thank them.

Song He said: "General Chu is a meritorious warrior. Now he is in charge of the military affairs of the two states. In addition to military books, he also does not waste time reading a few books by sages in his spare time."

Chu Liang just sat down and stood up again, clasping his fists to accept the order. After all, he was a military commander on the battlefield, and when he spoke, he seemed full of confidence.

Song He continued: "I think this Yunzhou territory, along the way, is worthy of the family motto that 'the weather should be clear and the weather should be high'. As for Pei Governor's own profound scholarship and integrity, there is no problem. Yes, I hope that Governor Pei will not slack off in the future and persevere."

Pei Tong's expression remained as usual and he immediately stood up to thank His Majesty for his approval.

It's just that this feudal official who is not yet fifty years old has caused huge waves in his heart. His Majesty said the word "self"? What about his Pei Tong family? Moreover, Zhao Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue was the founder of the Guange style. As for the family motto of the Tianshui Zhao family, Pei Tong was naturally familiar with it. He remembered that after the phrase "the body should be strong and sincere", there was the sentence "the color should be suitable". "Rou Yizhuang", Pei Tong immediately had a suspicion in his mind. When he returned to the governor's office this time, he immediately sent a letter home to ask the family to conduct self-examination. Once he found out who among his descendants dared to do evil and had any actions to compete with the people, If there is a lawsuit, those who should be punished will be sent to the local government. There is no such thing as minor punishment or major warning. In the ancestral hall, they will all be expelled from the family tree on the spot.

Song He smiled and said, "I'm calling you here this time to accompany me to meet someone."

The military general Chu Liang was confused, but the civil servant Pei Tong knew it right away and guessed the identity of the other party after a little thought.

There is no other person except that person who can make His Majesty the Emperor mobilize troops like this.

Could it be that there was a dispute between Luoluoshan and the imperial court over the ownership of the Ximeihe Dragon Palace ruins? So much so that His Majesty the Emperor needs to personally intervene to smooth things over?

Afterwards, Emperor Song He said that he wanted to take a walk and asked them to wait in a carriage a few miles ahead.

After walking out of the pavilion, accompanied only by the minister Zhao Yao and the weaver Li Baozhen, Song He took out a palm-sized book from his sleeve, which contained the secret contents written by the Yuzhou Weaving Bureau.

General Cao Wu of Yuzhou went to Piyun Mountain in Beiyue, and then Tiger Wei Bo went to Luolu Mountain to inform Chen Pingan. Finally, the two parties met for tea in the Etiquette Department of Tiger Mansion. This is just the contents of the main volume of the secret book. The contents written in the supplementary volume are more detailed, which can be regarded as a supplementary explanation of the main points of the main volume. This is the regular secret book of the Dali Prefecture Kiln Supervision Bureau, Weaving Bureau and Logging Institute. To this day, only the Hongzhou Logging Institute has not submitted any letter to the emperor.

Previously, when he was with Lin Zhengcheng, the chief official of the logging institute, the emperor only chatted with the last leader of Lizhu Cave, talking about some small town customs, and the two sides did not discuss any official affairs.

Chen Ping'an changed his alias and opened a private school in the village where Liuwu River is located, where the Ximei River originates. He hid in the countryside and became a teacher. According to the latest intelligence, the Ximei River water god Gao Niang and the Fengxue Temple maiden Yu Huiting have already known each other. Although they knew about this secret matter, they did not report it secretly to the Ministry of Rites and Punishment of Dali respectively, and chose to deliberately conceal the matter. The reason why the Dali court was in trouble was also due to the whereabouts of the Jade Pu monk in Qinggong Mountain in Liuxia Continent. The Ministry of Punishment followed the clues and found out. After that, the first person on Liuxiazhou Mountain, the old monk Jing Hao of the Ascension Realm, rushed to Yunzhou in person. Of course, Jing Hao had said hello to the imitation white jade capital above Luo Jing, the companion capital. The old monk’s reason was to come I met a friend on the mountain in Aquarius Island.

Generally speaking, the imperial court was still a belated observer.

His Majesty the Emperor, who learned of this secret report halfway, just went to the logging yard in Yuzhang County, Hongzhou, and met Lin Zhengcheng. Then he made an impromptu decision and went straight to Yanzhou Mansion in Yunzhou, while the Queen Mother stayed at her ancestral home. In her hometown, Nan Hai's "provincial visit" was not carried out with much fanfare from beginning to end. As a result, the entire Hongzhou officialdom still does not know that the Queen Mother is now in the Nan family of Yuzhang County, and that the Emperor has come and gone.

Song He said with a smile: "The law is nothing more than human feelings. Minister Zhao, on this matter, you, the Ministry of Justice, don't have to criticize Gao Niang and Yu Huiting harshly. If I put myself in their shoes, I would not take the initiative to leak secrets to the court. Well, I don't dare." .”

There have been comments about Gao Niang, the first river god of the Ximei River, the Shanjun Mansion of Piyun Mountain, which is in charge of the mountain and water gods of the entire Beiyue River, and the Temple of the Ministry of Rites of Dali to worship the Qing officials, and the contents are exactly the same.

It can be seen from this that Gao Niang is an old official who can easily change the direction of the situation.

As for Yu Huiting, after she came down from the mountain, she served as a monk accompanying the Dali army for nearly twenty years and made many military exploits. This time, she and Yuan Ying, a native Dali native with a steady personality, were responsible for the lifting of the ban on the Dragon Palace ruins and Regarding the excavation, the Dali imperial court clearly intended to give her a glorious resume. Regardless of whether she intended to be an official in the Dali imperial court in the future, or return to the Fengxue Temple to devote herself to practice, she would be an outstanding figure in the Ministry of Personnel and the Zushi Hall on the mountain. There is a saying. In addition, this time she was able to open the Dragon Palace restriction in advance, allowing the earth masters at the Qintian Prison in the capital to save the heavenly materials and earthly treasures needed to open the mountain. It was also thanks to the two " "Dragon Eye" is an unexpected surprise. Afterwards, the Ministry of Punishment of the Great Li will make its own compensation. It will select treasures of the same grade from the Yi-zi Secret Treasury and hand them over to Yu Huiting. Now the Ministry of Punishment is discussing the matter and will award it to Yu Huiting in the future. A peace and quiet card, is it the third level, or should I just give it to the second level.

Song He said: "I have seen Yu Huiting's battlefield experience. The Ministry of Punishment should give her a second-class peace card. She deserves it. It is my great fortune to have such a heroic woman."

Zhao Yao said with a smile: "Your Majesty, when the Ministry of Punishment wanted to issue a low-level medal, she confiscated it, saying that all her military merits had been assigned to her early, and she would not be rewarded for her unearned merit."

Song He also knew about this and couldn't help but smile: "As expected of a military monk from Fengxue Temple, why is it so difficult for your punishment department to give gifts than to receive them?"

Zhao Yao suggested: "In fact, it is not difficult to get her to accept the gift, but it may require your majesty and the minister to speak to you and allow Yu Huiting to transfer the peace card to her. Then she will definitely be willing to accept it."

Song He said: "This kind of thing is rare, right? I remember that Da Li only made an exception once with Zeng Ye of the Five Islands School?"

Shu Jianhu Gu Can once transferred his own "Nothing" card to Zeng Ye.

Zhao Yao nodded and said: "Then let's add another additional condition. It can be transferred as a gift, but the second-class idle cards must be reduced to third-class. With Yu Huiting's character, she is still happy."

Song He turned to look at Li Baozhen aside and asked with a smile: "Li Zhizao, what do you think?"

Li Baozhen smiled and said: "Your Majesty is wise and has already made a decision in his heart. He is taking the exam for Zhao Shilang and his subordinates."

Song He patted Li Baozhen on the shoulder and joked: "The outside world says that you guys who came out of Lizhu Cave can just open your mouth when you want to praise someone, and you don't even need to write down your curse words even more harshly."

Zhao Yao said: "In this matter, our Fulu Street and Taoye Lane are far less powerful than other places in the town, and in our hometown, it seems that men have always been inferior to women. Granny Ma in Xinghua Lane , the widow of the Gu family in Mubo Alley, Li Huai’s mother in the far west of the town, and Huang Erniang, the wine seller, they are recognized as the first-class masters. They have profound skills and can quarrel with others. An invincible opponent."

Li Baozhen smiled and nodded.

Song He asked curiously: "Then if they fight, what will be the outcome?"

Zhao Yao said: "It is not easy for top masters to compete with each other."

Li Baozhen echoed: "Everyone has his own territory. If you meet each other and glance sideways, it's probably an overkill. Ordinary people can't understand the knowledge here."

After a moment of silence, the three of them almost said two words in unison. No wonder.

No wonder the guy from Mud Bottle Alley is so outstanding and famous in this foreign land.

The simple folk customs of that small town are now as famous as the night banquet of Wei Shanjun of Beiyue.

In the carriage, while His Majesty the Emperor was not present, Yu Yu secretly took out a pot of Changchun Palace Immortal Brew and started drinking it.

Queen Yu Mian did not stop her. Yu Yu wiped the corner of her mouth and said, "Empress, you are about to meet Lord Yin Guan. I am extremely nervous. I have to drink a few sips quickly to calm down the shock."

According to the family hierarchy in the family tree, the girl was actually the elder of Queen Yu Mian, so Yu Mian had to call Yu Yu sister-in-law.

Yu Mian asked with a soft smile: "Are you so afraid of Mr. Chen?"

The last time I accompanied His Majesty the Emperor to the wedding banquet in the capital, Yu Mian had met Chen Ping'an, and the impression he had was that he was a scholar with great character. He didn't have the fairy-like aura of a Taoist monk on the mountain, but he didn't.

Yu Yu leaned against the wall of the car, burped happily, and blew a breath towards the Queen like a mischief, "There is a missing word 'we', I am not the only one who is afraid of him, all of us are I’m afraid, anyway, if everyone is embarrassed together, then no one will be embarrassed.”

Yu Mian waved his hand to disperse the smell of alcohol, and then raised the curtains to ventilate the car to avoid the smell of alcohol in the carriage after His Majesty boarded the train. "If you don't have a good job, how can you get married in the future?"

Yu Yu imitated the tone of the young hermit official and sighed, "I don't like the idea of ​​urging marriage. Besides, I am the elder of the family, the empress. What you call me is neither big nor small."

Yu Mian couldn't help but laugh and touched the girl's head. Yu Yu shouted, "Be bold and wanton." He turned his head, humming "Haha" and punched the Queen.

Song He said with a smile: "Baozhen, when you return home this time, please remember to take the time to meet Jian Feng. After all, he is the governor of Yizhou Kiln Affairs. He has been in Huaihuang County for more than a day or two, and he is always so out of the way." It’s not a problem to enter. Okay, you stay, Zhao Yao and I will continue on our way.”

Jian Feng was a son of a noble family in the capital. He succeeded Cao Gengxin as the supervisor of the fourth grade. However, when he arrived in the town, he encountered obstacles everywhere and stepped on many soft nails. His situation was not much better than that of Wu Yuan, the first county magistrate of the town. go. Jian Feng was still high-spirited and looked down on the idle drunkard Cao from the bottom of his heart. In fact, in the eyes of the discerning people at the center of the Dali Temple, he was far less "heavy and light" than Cao Gengxin. Emperor Song He was not satisfied with Jian Feng's actions in supervising the construction of the office over the years. Very satisfied, but he couldn't personally teach Jian Feng how to be an official. It just so happened that Li Baozhen was going back to his hometown, so he might as well let these two emperor's confidants have a few heart-to-heart talks. If Jian Feng still didn't improve after that, Song and that You can go directly to Li Baozhen.

Li Baozhen bowed and clasped his fists, stopped where he was, and left silently.

When Li Baozhen quietly traveled far away in the wind, Zhao Yao looked away and said softly: "Zhu Lu, the assistant officer of the Weaving Bureau, it's a bit strange that she disappeared halfway."

Song He rubbed his brows and said: "It is useless to delve into things that can make even the old coachman vague. Since the other party is most likely to be a monk in the Fourteenth Realm, the Confucian Temple is destined not to be so hidden. After thinking about it, , there is only one."

Zhao Yao nodded and said, "If it's really him, it makes sense."

It makes sense that Zhu Lu came from the Li family on Fulu Street and was taken away by Lu Chen.

Song He walked slowly, looking at the beautiful mountains and clear waters, and said with a smile: "The peach blossoms and plum blossoms share the apricot blossoms, and they fly down to the wild people's homes."

Zhao Yao smiled and said: "What can the wild people in the mountains have? The jars are full of newly brewed Yangchun wine."

Song He suddenly asked: "The news of my coming here cannot be hidden from Piyunshan. Zhao Yao, do you think Mr. Weishan will inform Mr. Chen?"

Zhao Yao said: "It's hard to say."

It's really hard to say.

It's not that the answer is yes or no, why is it difficult to say, but Zhao Yao's identity makes it difficult for him to answer this question.

The emperor smiled and did not embarrass Minister Zhao.

An old man driving piglets came out from the village entrance. Probably because he saw Song He and Zhao Yao walking in the middle of the road, the piglets began to scurry around while squealing. Song He rubbed his hands and rolled them up. He lowered his sleeves and bent down, trying to help stop the piglets running all over the road. Zhao Yao followed suit, opened his arms, and followed His Majesty the Emperor to block the road. In the end, the old man felt that he was being unhelpful and endured it again and again. , I still can’t hold it back, if I continue to stop them blindly, the piglets will almost run into the river, not to mention running into the fields. Will you pay for it then? The old man became anxious and quickly told the two guys to stop working. He was so busy that he finally managed to collect the piglets, and Song He and Zhao Yao were complained about.

Song He quickly shook his hands and apologized to the old farmer in Li Yayan. The old farmer's expression improved and he muttered a few words, and then His Majesty the Emperor turned to look at the Minister of Punishment.

This Yanzhou Prefecture is surrounded by mountains and hills. It is a typical custom with different customs for ten miles and different pronunciations for hundreds of miles. Fortunately, the old farmer who drives the pigs and the young minister can understand but can't speak Mandarin, and the other knows the local dialect but can't. He said that without delaying the communication between the two parties, the three of them started chatting as they went back and forth. At their feet were a group of smelly piglets. When His Majesty the Emperor followed the convoy and entered the carriage, Yu Yu had already given up the territory. Yu Mian was a little surprised. Song He explained to her and laughed heartily to himself, feeling good.

————

The capital city of Muzhou Prefecture is also the seat of Yunzhou Prefecture.

Fengming Temple, which also has a plaque on the main courtyard of Yunzhou Dao, has three important guests of noble status. They are all from the capital.

The two plaques hang together, which means that it is not only a local Taoist temple, but also a Taoist government office under the jurisdiction of Dali Chongxu Bureau.

An old Taoist priest holding a fly whisk in his hand looked up at the couplets outside the Taoist temple. He twisted his beard and said with a smile: "The Taoist temple has doubled in size. It's just the content of the couplets. It loses its momentum by more than one step compared to us."

A young Taoist priest with a handsome appearance joked: "Hong Daozheng, we are both in the Daozhengyuan. This kind of sectarian view is unacceptable."

The old Taoist priest who was called "Daozheng" shook his head and said: "I, the Taoist priests, are good at studying the ancient times and seek truth from facts. Where do you get your sectarian opinions? You kid, don't go up and down the line and give the poor Taoist eye drops on the side of Master Wu. "

The middle-aged Taoist priest standing in the middle smiled and nodded: "The content of the couplet is not as chewy as the one in your Taoist temple."

There were three uninvited visitors outside the door. The old Taoist priest surnamed Hong was the Taoist official in charge of the Daozhengyuan of the Capital.

The young Taoist priest is Daolu Geling. He also has a hidden identity, one of the Dali Earthly Branch monks.

The content of the couplets hung in the Daozheng Yamen Office of the capital where they are located is indeed very ancient and full of ancient meaning: The golden courtyard of pines and cypresses is a blessed place for cultivating the true soul, and the spiritual ruins of cultivating Taoism are cherished forever.

Outside the gate of that government office, there was a monument beside the steps. The person who erected the monument is the Taoist official who is now the leader of Chongxu Bureau in Dali. He has a series of titles. The disciple of Sandong leads the Taoist priest of the capital and is the master of Chongxu Pavilion, Wu Lingjing of She County.

This is the middle-aged Taoist priest who is nominally in charge of Taoist affairs in the country of Dali, Wu Lingjing, whose title is "Dao Shizheng". His weight in the Dali court is similar to that of Master Sanzang in Buddhism.

Wu Lingjing was not a "native" Taoist priest in Dali. His ancestral home was in the southeastern border of Aquarius Continent. In the past, he was the abbot of an unknown small Taoist temple in Qingluan Kingdom, one of the vassals of Dali.

Now this middle-aged Taoist priest is the leader of the Great Li Chongxu Bureau. In a sense, he was the one with the highest official position among the hundreds of thousands of Taoist priests in the entire Great Li Dynasty.

Wu Lingjing and the monk who had obtained the title of Tripitaka Master a few years ago and was also the abbot of the Dali Sutra Translation Bureau belonged to the same hometown and came from the Qingluan Kingdom. The Taoist priest and the monk were all highly recommended by Liu Qingfeng, the Minister of Rites in Luojing, the capital of Dali in the past. The Taoist priest came from Baiyun Temple in Qingluan Kingdom, and the monk came from Baishui Temple.

Soon a Taoist priest showed up to inquire. After learning the identities of the three people, he was shocked and hurriedly led them into the Taoist temple to inform his Taoist priest about the matter.

In the blink of an eye, in addition to Yunzhou Daozheng, there were two Daolu who happened to be on duty and discussing matters in the Taoist temple. They led a large group of Taoist officials from this state who were recorded by the court. Together they held their breath and walked lightly, and quickly came to meet Wu Lingjing and his party. people.

This Yunzhou Daozhengyuan has the same system as the Daozhengyuan of the Capital. It consists of six departments: Genealogy, Litigation, Qingci, Palm Seal, Geography, and Qinggui. The official status of all Taoist officials in the imperial court is Taolu.

However, in the Daozhengyuan of each state, there are a total of seven Taoist officials who receive imperial salaries, and their ranks are all one level lower than those in the capital. In addition, the six Daolu are often in charge of the affairs of a certain Taoist temple in an important prefecture in a state. Daozhengyuan in the capital is a Taoist temple with a very small appearance. It is the kind of place that ordinary people in the capital will miss if they walk by without paying attention. The Yunzhou Daozhengyuan, which is a slightly lower-ranking government office, is on the contrary such a magnificent building. The Taoist temple is magnificent and can be called a fairyland. Yunzhou Daozheng, who is currently in charge of a state's Taoist priests, is a Jindan monk. Dozens of state Taoist government offices in the Dali area are almost all like this. They are affiliated with a Taoist temple with a long history, and the local temple owner also serves as the Taoist priest in charge.

When all the Taoist priests saw the leader of the Chongxu Bureau, their first impression was that they were inevitably a little nervous. In the officialdom, they were not afraid of the sanctimonious and arrogant ones, but were afraid of the smiling and approachable superiors.

Wu Lingjing didn't take it seriously. Yunzhou Daozheng said that he would take them to visit the Taoist temple first, and then they would follow the tour, and then drink tea, so just drink tea.

Being so talkative made the headmaster Daozheng and the two Taoists feel anxious. They speculated that Wu Lingjing, the Taoist priest who was in charge of the promotion of Taoist priests in the country, came without saying hello this time. They didn't know why.

This middle-aged Taoist priest who had a habit of squinting at people and things actually came up to the mountain to practice Buddhism very late. He had not been "Taoist for a few years". It was a genuine coincidence that he "cultivated Taoism in the middle age".

When he was still an ordinary person, Wu Lingjing was a veritable bookworm. He liked to stay up late and read at night. In addition, he read so many books in those years that he accidentally hurt his eyes, causing his vision to blur when he saw anything, so he habitually squinted. Eyes, Wu Lingjing has never been able to change this habit since he started practicing Taoism. Over and over again, rumors spread, and Guanzhu Wu, who admired the Xu Bureau, had the nickname of Smiling Tiger in the capital. It is said that it was first spread from the alley near Renyun Yiyun Tower. It is also said that it was given by the old minister of the Zhao family in Tianshui. Wu Lingjing was quite helpless about this. Unexpectedly, he went to the alley just out of curiosity and fascination, but failed to walk in. He was stopped at the entrance of the alley and chatted with the old Yuanying Liu Gao. After a few words and some kind advice on spiritual practice with the young man who was often struck by lightning when he went out, he got such a nickname in vain.

As for Wu Lingjing's trip to Beijing this time, he was invited by Mr. Yuan from Qintian Prison, who said he wanted to introduce a friend to him. The person's status was special and it was not appropriate to appear in Dali Capital.

Wu Lingjing made an appointment with Mr. Yuan at the border of Yunzhou.

Liu Zijun?

Wu Lingjing felt complicated.

I just hope I’m not the scholar in the history books.

Regarding this person, the comments in later history books are very extreme, each holding his own opinion, and giving mixed praise and criticism.

But Wu Lingjing reads a lot and has always read and has his own opinions. If he was asked to evaluate this person, it might be scary, with only one sentence.

Since ancient times after the failure of the Lisheng restructuring, this man led ten thousand Confucian scholars to compile history books, which became popular all over the world. The great cultural lineage and Taoism have been changed beyond recognition.

Wu Lingjing squinted his eyes and sighed softly, "Why is Mr. Yuan doing this? Isn't it putting me in an unkind and unjust situation?"

But he inevitably had doubts in his heart, why did the Confucian Temple ignore this matter in the first place?

What does Yuan Tianfeng want to do today?

The name changed from Longzhou to Chuzhou comes from the theory of the division of stars, which is the suggestion of the Qintian Supervisor in the capital. In fact, it is the handiwork of Yuan Tianfeng, the "Ke Qing" of the Qintian Supervisor. In addition, Chuzhou A series of brand-new county names, such as Xiandu Jinyun, Wuyi Wencheng, etc., were also chosen with the help of Mr. Yuan.

Yuan Tianfeng, at the moment, was somewhere in Yanzhou Prefecture, suggesting that an old Confucian scholar with no reputation donate money to build a Kuixing Pavilion in the southeast corner of the Confucian Temple in their county to gather purple energy.

There was a young scholar next to Yuan Tianfeng who was noncommittal about this, seeming to say that this move was good, but it was still not the best.

In a village school at the foot of a mountain, the teacher was giving lessons. He talked to the Meng children about the principles in the book, and then explained them in detail to the children in more common and easy-to-understand vernacular.

"Exaggerating your achievements and showing off your articles are all based on external things. No matter how arrogant you are, you will still bow your head when you see others. You are kind-hearted and kind to others. Even if you don't know a word and don't know a word, you are not afraid of ghosts knocking you in the middle of the night. Door, live your life in a dignified and upright manner."

Outside the school, a group of strangers with unfamiliar faces came. They were standing under the eaves of the window and did not disturb the teacher's lectures.

In addition, there are two old masters who teach in Wuxi Village. They heard the commotion in the village earlier and said that three carriages were coming, and they were very impressive.

I was really curious about the identity of the foreigners, so I made an appointment to come here to find out. They were two elderly masters. One was Feng Yuanting, the master of Wuxi Village School, and the other was named Han Mei, also named Yuncheng. Now he works as a private tutor for the richest family in the village. The old man has no fame, but he has taught several students who have passed the examination. After all, the people in the Great Li Dynasty, especially those in the north, are not ordinary nobles.

The two old masters looked at the group of people not far away from the corner of their eyes and whispered to each other.

Old Tongsheng whispered: "Brother Han, at first glance they are officials, right?"

Han Mei had seen the big world, so he nodded and said: "The official is not small."

The old master then added a few insider words, "Most of them come from aristocratic families and have experience in the officialdom. In a few years, they may go to the six yamen in the capital to get an official position, or to work in a large county in the capital, and at the same time, they will get an official position." A noble official position such as a college clerk or a secretary who can correct calligraphy for provincial exams."

Feng Yuanting was stunned when he heard this. Could he start as a county magistrate in the future?

The Dali Dynasty drew a line, which happened to be bounded by Chuzhou. The north of Chuzhou belonged to the "Old Dali", the south of Chuzhou and the north of Dadu belonged to the "New Dali".

So being an official in Yunzhou and the north is much higher than serving in the south, especially in the vassal states around Luojing, the capital of Da Li.

It's just a break after class, not school yet.

Chen Pingan walked out of the school, smiled and saluted.

Song He bowed and said, "Song He has met Mr. Chen."

Song He?

When the two old masters heard this, they were stunned for a moment, and then looked at each other and smiled. They both thought it was interesting, okay, okay, why did the young man choose such a name? It's a bit big.