Chapter 170: Step by step officialdom

In Liangzhou, An Sishun paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. He was in a very heavy mood. He had just received news that the Qiang and Hu were defeated in Guazhou and were chased by Shatuo people, and almost wiped out the entire army.

An Sishun was somewhat annoyed. In fact, his decision to attack Li Qing'an's convoy was made just the day before Li Qing'an arrived in Liangzhou. He received an letter of request from An Lushan, asking him to intercept Li Qing'an halfway. Of course, it is impossible to kill Li Qing'an, but at least he should give Li Qing'an a heavy blow.

An Sishun generally would not refuse An Lushan's request, but this time he was a little hesitant. After all, attacking the new Beiting Jiedushi was not a trivial matter, but An Sishun did not discuss it with anyone. After thinking for a night, he made a decision.

If he could successfully frame the Shatu people, then after Li Qing'an took over the Beiting, it would be a nightmare for the Shatu people. Then would the Shatu people move to Hexiguazhou?

The answer is yes. Since the Uighurs were accustomed to conquering and assimilation, the Shatu people would not surrender to the Uighurs, so they could only choose to move eastward. If he was good at inducing and the influence of the court, the Shatu people would definitely stay in Hexi, allowing him to get a sharp cavalry in An Sishun.

Only he failed in the end. The failure was that he underestimated Li Qing'an's sensitivity, and that he could not control actual combat from a distance. If he knew that it would eventually evolve into a siege battle, then perhaps he would not take this risk. Things could no longer be saved. An Sishun could only swallow the bitter fruit. From then on, Beiting was in a state of harmony, but Beiting had more requests from Hexi. He was not afraid that Li Qing'an would complain to the court. All the people who died were Qiang and Hu, so what did he have to do with his Hexi army? How to appease Qiang and Hu was a headache for him.

An Sishun stood at the table and pondered. He was very interested in the heavenly thunder used by Li Qing'an. As far as he knew, in the Battle of Yinglong City, Li Qing'an used this powerful fire thunder. Of course, it would not be a god-subdued thunder. So what exactly is this fire thunder is still a mystery.

"What exactly is this?"

An Sishun tapped the table gently, and he immediately walked behind the table, sat down cross-legged, spread a piece of paper, and picked up a pen to write a letter.

Li Qing'an has been in Beiting for three days. He inspected the warehouse, trained the army, and listened to reports on money and grain expenses, but he received nearly a hundred officials, civil officials, and military generals. He was so busy that he didn't even have time to take a breath.

But there was one person he had not seen from beginning to end, that was the deputy captain Cheng Qianli. Cheng Qianli still used the excuse of recuperation at home, and Li Qingan did not visit his house. Both of them seemed to be waiting for each other's concessions, but neither of them took the critical first step.

Mingchao is still Li Qing'an's current priority. In the past three days, he has met nearly a hundred civil and military officials in Anxi, speaking all of them in official language and scenes. He still cannot see through the Beiting officialdom, and there seems to be a faint mist in the Beiting officialdom.

That night, Li Qing'an returned to Jinman County from Beitingcheng. Beitingcheng is very close to Jinman County, only three miles apart. Beitingcheng is a concentrated place for the Beiting Military and Political Office, and life is very inconvenient. Therefore, Beiting officials basically settled in Jinman County and also lived in nearby villages.

Jinman County is neither big nor small. According to the population size of the mainland, it can be regarded as a county. The city is more than 20 miles in circumference, with about 20,000 residents, most of which are Han people, and half of them are military households. The entire county has four streets, arranged in the shape of a "well". The streets are full of poplar trees, various large shops and warehouses, as well as inns, wine shops, brothels, gambling halls and other commercial shops. The business is very prosperous. Unlike mainland cities, there are no east and west cities, no yard walls, and no regulations for closing the doors for a limited time. All shops are opened along the streets, and most of them operate until late at night.

Li Qing'an's mansion is located in the northeast corner of Jinman County. The most beautiful place in the city is the city with a lake of hundreds of acres. The lake water turns milky white several times a year because it is called Baihu. Jinman River passes through the lake. There are willows and green poplars on both sides of the lake. The scenery is beautiful. There are dozens of large houses distributed along the lake, most of which are the residences of high-ranking officials and tycoons. Li Qing'an's mansion is one of them. It was originally the home of Lu Fengyuan, the former deputy governor of the Jiedushi. He has been transferred away, so the huge house naturally belongs to Li Qing'an.

However, Li Qing'an did not go home directly today, but went to the home of the deputy governor Yang Fengche. Yang Fengche's house is located in Huxi, across the lake from Li Qing'an's mansion. The house covers an area of ​​30 acres. It is the most beautiful house in Jinman County. It lives with Yang Fengche's wife, three concubines, one son and one daughter, and more than a dozen servants. In addition, Yang Fengche has ten hectares of land outside the city and a shop in the city. It can be said that his roots are already in Beiting.

Li Qing'an came to Yang Fengche's mansion. After a moment, Yang Fengche came out. He and Li Qing'an's office were less than twenty steps apart. After staying for a day, they didn't know how many times they met, but meeting at home at night was very different.

Yang Fengche smiled with a flattering look, ran down the steps and bowed and said, "Welcome General Li to the destiny."

"I'm sorry to disturb Yang Dupu's rest at night." Li Qingan smiled slightly.

"General Li is saying what he said. I wanted to invite General Li long ago, but I was embarrassed to speak. General Li came by himself, that would be the best."

Yang Fengche bowed and waved his hand, and said, "The night wind is quite cool, please go into the house and talk."

The two walked into the gate with greetings. Li Qing'an saw the carved beams and painted buildings of his house, and the house was elegant. When he entered the door, he was a pond. The pond was planted with lotus flowers and surrounded by weeping willows. A bridge was like a flying rainbow, leading to the lobby. It was uniquely designed and amazing. Li Qing'an walked on the bridge and felt the cool breeze swelling, which made people feel refreshed. He couldn't help but nodded and smiled: "It's said that Yang Du protects his family. Now I understand. If I have such a house, I will definitely think of it all the time."

Walking across the bridge, the two arrived at the lobby. A young man in his twenties stepped forward to salute, "See General Li."

Seeing that he and Yang Fengche looked quite similar, with beautiful eyes and beautiful eyes, Li Qingan smiled and said, "This is the son-in-law!"

"Haha! This is my son Yang Ji, who is preparing to go to Beijing this fall and participate in next year's spring exam."

"I also heard that the sons were going to participate in the imperial examination. This is a grand event of the Yang family! My newly appointed military farmer Wang Changling and the judge Cen Shen are all from Jinshi. They are very literary. Mr. Yang might as well ask them for advice."

Yang Ji was very happy, but hesitated and said a little hesitant: "It's just that I feel a little abrupt."

His father Yang Fengche stroked his beard and smiled: "My son is not in line with current affairs. Since General Li has spoken, he will say hello to them. What are you worried about?"

Yang Ji suddenly realized and hurriedly bowed to Li Qing'an deeply, "Thank you for General Li's arrangement. I will go to Mr. Yuhu as my teacher tomorrow."

Li Qingan glanced at Yang Fengche and said that this person was a good person. Now it seems that this person is actually an old man in the officialdom. In this way, things will be easier.

"Present Yang, let's sit down and talk!"

Yang Fengche slapped his forehead and said apologetically: "Look at me, I just talked, but I forgot the most basic etiquette. General Li, please!"

"please!"

The two came to the lobby to sit down. Beiting was deeply influenced by the Hu people's habits. Many families had chairs. Yang Fengche's family did not kneel, but sat on a ring chair. Later, this kind of chair gradually flowed into the Central Plains and gradually became popular in the late Tang Dynasty.

Yang Fengche asked Li Qing'an to sit down and ordered him to say left and right: "Come on a table of wine and food."

Li Qingan quickly stopped and smiled and said, "I have eaten it with a few subordinates just now, so I can just put a cup of tea."

"Okay then! Have a bowl of horse milk tea."

After a moment, a maid brought a bowl of hot milk tea and placed it in front of Li Qing'an. The tea from the Tang Dynasty had never been fried, but was boiled in water and put with various seasonings. Most of Beiting Anxi followed Hu Feng and liked to drink milk tea. Yang Fengche lived in Beiting for a long time and was used to it.

However, Li Qingan was not used to the fishy smell of milk tea. He took a sip and shook his head and smiled: "I brought the best Mengding tea. I will ask my personal soldiers to escort Yang Du a few pounds later."

"That's so thankful, come here! Change to a cup of fragrant tea."

Seeing that Li Qing'an was not used to it, Yang Fengche quickly ordered someone to change to a cup of ordinary tea. Li Qing'an took a sip and then smiled: "Today I looked at the resumes of the officials. Yang Duhu will be in office for ten years this year!"

"That's right! I've been in Beiting for ten years in a flash. Time makes people grow old. I'm already forty-eight years this year, and I'll be resigned in a few years."

Although Yang Fengche sighed that his youth was no longer there, a trace of nervousness flashed in his eyes. He could hear Li Qing'an's implicit meaning, implying that he had been a deputy guru for too long. Indeed, the Tang Dynasty had not had a precedent for being a deputy guru for ten years. Even Yang Fengche didn't know why he could do it for so long. Perhaps he was ordinary and had no merits and no faults. In addition, his position had no real power, and was just a false position and was not valued by others. Therefore, the court neither promoted nor demoted, so he was exhausted year by year.

Yang Fengche is not an ambitious person and does not like to do things. His greatest hope is to have another son. Therefore, in Beiting, he is famous for his family love. The leisurely and leisure-friendly guardian of Beiting is the most suitable for him. He hopes that he can retire from the position of Beiting Deputy Guardian of Beiting, earn a considerable family property, and find a good job for his son. This is his greatest life ideal.

The previous bosses knew that he had no ambitions and were too happy to interfere with him. However, when Li Qing'an's term, he felt that his crisis had come.

This crisis is not because Li Qing'an wants to do anything to him, but the current situation in the Beiting officialdom is different from the previous few years. Beiting actually has a situation where two heroes compete for strength, one is Li Qing'an and the other is Cheng Qianli. Li Qing'an is the princeling party, and Cheng Qianli is the princeling party. In other words, Beiting is actually a contest between the princeling party and the princeling party. I really don’t know who arranged this situation?

He was stuck in the middle, and Yang Fengche sighed secretly. He knew that Li Qingan came to the door tonight, not for leisure and elegance.

"How do you feel when General Li is in office for three days?" Yang Fengche asked with a forced smile.

"It's okay! I feel that Beiting is full of vitality. It is a place to do a career and life is also very good. I came today to thank Guard Yang for making the house for me in advance so that my family can have a place to stay."

Yang Fengche quickly said modestly: "Where! Where! This is just a little bit of power. General Li cannot come to thank him in person."

Li Qingan smiled, and he changed the subject and asked again: "I don't know if the son goes to Beijing to take the exam, but are you ready?"

Yang Fengche was stunned, "What preparation do you need?"

Li Qingan laughed, "Although I have never participated in the imperial examination, I also know one or two. Candidates from all over the country go to Beijing to take the provincial examination early, not to temporarily cram the scriptures, but to submit to the family class. I have seen with my own eyes that the gates of the prime minister's mansions are full of scholars, and they all want to be disciples of the prime minister's country. Does Yang Duhu know why this is?"

Yang Fengche nodded, and he knew a little about this. Chen Zhonghe, the magistrate of Jinman County, told him that the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty was not a name. When examining papers, it depends not only on the knowledge, but also on the morality of the candidates. In fact, it depends on the background of the candidates. The elasticity of the examiner's pen is closely related to this, but the provincial examination is only the first step.

In the provincial examination, whether it is the Jinshi examination or the Mingjing examination, you only have to be an official. If you want to be an official, you have to go through the Ministry of Personnel examination. This is the key. The Ministry of Personnel examination is equivalent to an interview, mainly depends on appearance and character. In fact, this also depends on background relationships. If you have a background background or a famous family, you are easily admitted. Only a few people can pass this level, but the Ministry of Personnel examination is still the second step.

The third step is to release officials, which requires a background background. If the backstage is strong, you can get a good position. If you stay in Beijing or go to a wealthy county, it is easy to achieve political achievements, and you can promote it. For example, Chen Zhonghe, the county magistrate of Jinman County, was granted the title of official position because of his poor family. In the 27th year of Kaiyuan, he was only appointed as an official because he passed the Jinshi Tanhua exam. However, he had no background or background. He was sent to Beiting and became an official for ten years. He had outstanding abilities. Because there was no one in the capital, he was still a small county magistrate.

Yang Fengche smiled bitterly. He was about to say that there was no one in the capital, but suddenly he thought about it and he immediately understood that Li Qing'an was hinting at him!

He immediately asked tentatively: "What does General Li mean?"

Li Qingan smiled faintly and said, "If Yang Duhu doesn't dislike him, I can recommend the son to Gao Lishi."

Li Qing'an drank a cup of tea, said a few casual words, and then said goodbye. Yang Fengche stared at the teacup on the table, and his mood could not calm down for a long time. Li Qing'an's intention of pulling him over was too obvious, but it also made him very moved. Although he longed to have another son, he married three concubines for this, but after more than ten years, the concubines didn't even have one egg, he knew that it was probably a problem with the planting he had laid.

He is 48 years old this year, and only one son is his son. His son is his all hope. If his son can be appointed as the first official Gao Lishi and have Gao Lishi as his backstage, even if he fails the imperial examination and goes to the imperial examination, his son's career will be bright. Of course, Yang Fengche knew that Li Qing'an's backstage was Gao Lishi, but if he defected to Li Qing'an, he would inevitably offend Cheng Qianli, which made him very embarrassed.

Yang Fengche sat at the table, pressed his temple and lamented, "What should I do!"

At this moment, a family member ran over and reported in front of the lobby, "Master, Cheng Dumai is asking for a meeting outside the door!"

"who?"

"Cheng Dupu, Cheng Qianli."

"Ah!" Yang Fengche stood up in shock, stunned.

Li Qing'an's mansion is located on the east side of Baihu Lake. It is a large mansion covering an area of ​​more than 20 acres. It is the second largest mansion in Jinman County after Yang Fengche's mansion. The house was renovated the year before. Most of the houses were newly built and divided into five courtyards, front, back, left and right. There are more than 100 various houses and pavilions. Although the mansion is not as elegant and unique as the Yang Mansion, it also has its own characteristics. One is that the trees are lush and the whole mansion is hidden among the green trees; the other is that the courtyard walls are tall and sturdy, like a castle, which is extremely difficult to climb. There are military camps stationed around, which ensures the safety of the mansion.

As soon as Li Qing'an arrived in Beiting, he had not had time to buy servants, so there were only a few people in his mansion, Rusi Ruhua and others living there. Most of the rooms were vacant and there were no lights. Except for the dozens of personal soldiers living in Li Qing'an in the west courtyard, there were only three or four rooms in the backyard of the entire mansion. He had ordered people to go to Gaochang to acquire some maids and servants, and Yan Zhuang would also live in the east courtyard.

As Li Qing'an returned home, the mansion suddenly became lively. Xiaolian smiled and greeted her, "Brother, the food is ready, let's have a meal together!"

"It's so late, we've all eaten." He looked at the back and asked with a smile: "Where are these?"

"They are learning the six-stringed guitar! I didn't call them."

"Well! Don't bother them."

Li Qingan turned around and smiled at his personal soldiers, "Everyone is gone! If you are hungry, go to the kitchen to have dinner first. If you want to go out to drink, don't cause trouble for me."

The personal soldiers dispersed. Li Qing'an returned to the inner house. He came to his study. He changed into a loose Zen suit and sat down comfortably.

The lights in the study were soft and bright, and the lily fragrance was lit in the copper stove at the corner of the house. There were a faint fragrance in the room. There were two inside and outside rooms. The inner room was for him to rest, with only one bed and a thick mattress. He planned to change it into a sand table room in the future. The walls around the outer room were filled with bookshelf, and various books and pictures were piled on the shelves. Against the north wall was a wide table.

A thick stack of miscellaneous newspapers were placed on the table, all delivered from Beijing. It was just a month late. Li Qing'an sat down and picked up a miscellaneous newspaper from the table that he just delivered today.

This is the earliest newspaper in history, but the content is very boring, recording the main events that occurred in the court, Li Longji's various government activities, such as Li Longji personally went to the fields to plow the fields to persuade farmers, etc.

However, two things attracted his attention today, both of which were related to Jiannan. One was promoted to the judge of Jiannan Jiedu Prefecture, Xian Yu Zhongtong, to the chief of Jiannan Jiedu Prefecture, which was Yang Zhao's original position. The other was that Li Longji approved Yang Zhao's name to be changed to Yang Guozhong and was appointed as the Minister of Taifu Temple.

‘Yang Guozhong!’ Li Qingan sneered. Yang Guozhong finally stepped onto the stage of history. I wonder if he would handle the Nanzhao issue in a mess like in history.

At this time, the door opened, and Rushi walked in quickly with a cup of tea. Li Qing'an's study was also a forbidden place, and Rushi sorted it out for him. No one except her was allowed to come in.

"Brother, have a cup of tea first!"

Rushi smiled slightly, and a dimples appeared on her cheeks like peach blossoms. She put the tea on the table in front of him, then knelt behind him, and gently massaged his head and neck. Li Qing'an gently patted her hand to express her gratitude.

"Why don't you go to learn the piano?"

"Ruhua is learning! I'm here to serve the prince. I was sore here yesterday. Is it better today?" Rushi asked gently rubbing the back of his neck.

"I've been a little better today. Thanks to you applying it to me with hot water last night."

"Well! I'll go and boil some boiling water later and apply it to me."

Li Qingan suddenly remembered something and said with a smile: "Tomorrow, you can get five kilograms of Mengding tea and ask my personal soldiers to send it to Yang Du Protectorate's Mansion. I promise him today."

"OK."

Rushi also remembered something and hurriedly said, "By the way, this afternoon, a team of Anxi soldiers escorted a batch of boxes, saying that they had sent it by you, and it seemed that they were all bronze Buddha statues."

"Ah! Where is the Buddha statue?"

"I'll let them put them in the East Courtyard!"

Li Qingan was overjoyed. He was always worried that the batch of bronze Buddha statues would have been sent. He quickly stood up and smiled and said, "I want to go and take a look."

He quickly walked out of the study room, but saw Xiaolian running towards him, "Brother, there is a guest who wants to see you."

"Who is it?"
Chapter completed!