At Jiaozhou Longbiao Port, a fleet of considerable ships left the dock and slowly sailed towards the outer sea. They carried the Zhou delegation and the Persian delegation returning to China, and continued their long sea journey to Persia located in the extreme west.

On the dock, the officials who saw off gradually dispersed. Some of them wanted to return to the Dragon Band, and some stayed in the port area, but had many affairs to deal with, so there was no time to waste.

Wei Fuzhao, the chief clerk of the Jiaozhou General Administration, was one of the people who were eager to return to the dragon. He was not for official business, but for family affairs.

His wife Yuwen Ying'e (Yuwen Eying) is now in the Dragon Wedding for childbirth, so Wei Fuzhao wants to go back and spend time with his wife.

He went to Longbian Port to see off the imperial mission today. He had to spend a night in the port area, but now he felt that if he rushed back to Longbian that night, his wife would definitely be very happy.

Yuwen Ying'e was a princess and could have stayed in Chang'an, but she insisted on following her son-in-law to take office in the smoky land of Jiaozhou. This moved Wei Fuzhao, so she always felt that she owed her wife a little, and she had to make up for it if she had the chance.

As a result, this idea was not implemented, and Wei Fuzhuo was enthusiastically invited by his "old friends" and transferred to the Hong Kong Inn.

There are two old friends, one is Zheng Yuanshu, a doctor of the Ministry of Rites, and the other is Wang Xun, an official of the Ministry of Rites.

Zheng Yuanshu was a deputy envoy to the countries in Nanyang, while Wang Xun was one of the members of the mission. Now they returned from the mission and stayed in the Longbian and stayed in the inn in the Hong Kong District. However, they met the mission to go south here, as well as the "old friend" Wei Fuzhuo, so they couldn't help but talk about the past.

Wei Fuzhuan thought about his wife, but he could not refuse the party. After all, this was too rude and could only sit in the port area with Zheng Yuanshu and Wang Xun.

Zheng Yuanshu and Wang Xun went to Nanyang to work in the spring of last year. They had been in the South China countries for more than a year before returning to the voyage. Wei Fuzhuo came to Jiaozhou at the beginning of this year, so Zheng Yuanshu wanted to find out what the situation in his hometown (Guanzhong).

As for Wang Xun, he is from Luoyang, and his relationship with Wei Fuzhuan is not a fellow villager, but is "the same year".

The so-called "same year" refers to candidates who pass the exam in the same year, obtain the qualification to enter the officialdom, and wait for the selection of the Ministry of Personnel. Wang Yuan and Wei Fu Prize are candidates who were selected in the same year, so they have the friendship of "same year".

Wei Fuzhao and Wang Xun are novices in the officialdom, and Zheng Yuansheng is considered a veteran in the officialdom and has great social skills. After the three of them sat down, Zheng Yuansheng quickly dominated the topic.

Zheng Yi, the father of Zheng Yuanshu, was a controversial figure, but Zheng Yi had passed away and the controversy followed. Zheng Yuanshu was immediately reappointed after the three-year mourning period due to a relationship between his father and the emperor.

However, Yu Ze, who was my father, would use it one less at a time. Zheng Yuanshu knew that he had to rely on himself to work hard for his next career, so he tried every means to expand his connections.

So Zheng Yuanfeng pulled his fellow villager Wei Fuzhu to reminisce about the past. In fact, he wanted to get along with this royal prince-consort, and the relationship he established might be useful in the future.

The weather in Jiaozhou is very hot, and it is a rumored place of smoke. People in the Central Plains have changed their qualities when they hear it. Most of them regard it as a place that is more dangerous than Guangzhou. The prince-in-law Wei Fuzhao took office in Jiaozhou. With this, Zheng Yuanshuo has to praise it.

But the way of praising is to speak. During the conversation, Zheng Yuanshu did not call the other party the "son-in-law" because he wanted to cater to Wei Fuzhu's thoughts.

He had heard about Wei Fu Prize before. Wei Sanlang finally passed away but his father Wei Shikang died of illness. Therefore, Wei Fu Prize was mourned for three years. After the mourning period, he had not waited for the Ministry of Personnel to be elected, but he took the initiative to ask to work in Jiaozhou.

As the prince-consort of the dynasty, Wei Fuzhao was a noble concubine with a high status. It was no problem to find a single official or a half position in Chang'an, so there was no need to suffer in Jiaozhou.

Not to mention bringing the princess together, Zheng Yuanshu is not a fool. He can guess that this is Wei Fuzhuo who wants to make a name for himself: Wei Sanlang wants to prove to others that he can be an official by marrying the princess.

Then Zheng Yuanshu will not mention the word "son-in-law" when calling the other party, which can be regarded as taking care of the other party's self-esteem and making it easier for him to establish a relationship.

Apart from the relationship between fellow villagers, the two actually have no friendship, but this is not a problem for Zheng Yuanchun. The topic raised after the greetings is what the situation in Jiaozhou is now.

Speaking of Jiaozhou scenery, he was at the itchy place of Wei Fu Prize. He came to Jiaozhou to become an official, but he was not here to make a living. Over the past six months, even if he could not be familiar with the situation of the Jiaozhou General Administration, he could do it as if he was right.

As he spoke, he told the two old friends about the situation from Jiaozhou to Nanzhong Road.

The road from Jiaozhou to Nanzhong (Kunming) has been almost expanded and the entire line is completed. It will be much more convenient for caravans to go from Jiaozhou to Nanzhong. After all, Jiaozhou is located in the middle and lower reaches of the south. It is very convenient for personnel and materials to go from Nanzhong to Jiaozhou to take water. On the other hand, taking water is like sailing against the current, which is quite troublesome.

After the road is cleared, officials have added a convenient and reliable roadway passage to the Central Plains (Guanzhong). After all, there are many restrictions on going back to the Central Plains by taking the sea route. You should be extra careful when going to sea in summer and autumn.

There is no problem with land. Wei Fuzhuo said and began to reveal inside information: Thanks to the fierce explosives, the expansion project from Jiaozhou to Nanzhong Road was successfully carried out, and the completion period was advanced by two years.

"Two years ahead?" Zheng Yuanchun was a little surprised when he heard this. He had been a parent, so he knew the difficulty of cutting mountains and chopping stones. He had heard of the "strong explosives". Now, after hearing what Wei Fuzhu said, he really felt how powerful explosives were.

Thinking of this, he asked, "I wonder what happened to the South Central to Yizhou Road?"

"The expansion is almost completed." Wei Fuzhao said confidently, "After all, Yizhou has been around since ancient times from Nanzhong to Jiaozhou Road. Now the dynasty has only expanded on the original road, and with fierce explosives, it is naturally twice the result with half the effort."

Wang Xun, who had been listening, asked, "So how long will it take to go from Dragon Weaving to Chengdu?"

"The whole journey is more than 3,000 miles, and it is calculated by traveling forty miles a day, for at least two and a half months. Of course, the road is widened now, if you ride a horse and rush on a light vehicle, it is no problem to travel for 80 miles a day. In this way, you can reach Chengdu in more than a month."

Wang Xun sighed when he heard this: "Then my brother will return to Beijing to report his work in the future and can steadily return to Chang'an by land."

Zheng Yuanshu noticed the word "Brother Nian" mentioned by Wang Xun. After hearing this, Wei Fuzhao replied:

"This may not be the case. It is also good to take the sea route. If you get the hyacinth, you can arrive in Guangling on a three-masted clutch from Longbian to the north in just over ten days. Then you will return to Chang'an from Guangling, and the whole journey will be more than a month."

"Brother Nian, the hyacinth has the southeast wind. However, when the southeast wind blows, there are many storms on the sea. Take the sea road to Guangling. With such a long distance, the chance of encountering a storm is probably quite high, right?"

"It's okay. If you are really worried about the storm, you can go ashore in Guangzhou and walk the Dayu Ling Road to Hongzhou..." Wei Fuzhang said this and showed off his special appearance: "The Xianyang Gorge Plank Road and Dayu Ling Road are easy to walk on now..."

Wei Fuzhao and Wang Xun started to discuss, and Zheng Yuanshu suddenly realized that he could not interfere.

Because the other party was talking as the "same year", he was invisibly excluded.

Such a scene is a bit subtle. It’s not that Zheng Yuanshu cannot “snatch” the dominance of the topic, but he truly feels the magic of the relationship “in the same year”.

The imperial examination selection is increasingly held regularly, and the candidates who passed the examination have begun to form a relationship of "the same year". This relationship gradually focuses on both the same family, the same hometown and the same clan.

By choosing from the exam, most of the candidates who become officials are poor children. After entering the official career, these people have no relatives from their parents to rely on, no family disciples and officials can borrow money, and they can only rely on themselves.

However, it is not easy for newcomers who have no foundation in the officialdom to climb up by relying on their own strength. Therefore, the relationship in "the same year" became the only life-saving straw that newcomers can rely on when they are struggling in the officialdom.

Many new officials who rely on exams to become officials have friendships based on this relationship in the same year, and then communicate with each other and help each other, which is the so-called grouping to keep warm.

Gradually, officials from poor families vaguely formed small circles, and they called "Brother Nian" and "Brother Nian" when they met. They instantly became different from other officials and immediately became closer to each other.

Is this a very taboo gang for private purposes?

It seems that no, after all, if we want to decide to settle the party in the same year, then what is the same hometown?

Not to mention that the imperial court not only did not curb the formation of the relationship in the same year, but it was suspected of fueling it.

Zheng Yuanshu knew that when the Ministry of Personnel evaluated all officials, there would always be additional summary for those officials who passed the examination and became officials. These summary, without exception, are classified according to the year selected by the officials and then presented to the emperor for the imperial examination.

The court did not crack down on the relationship between the "same year", and the relationship between the same year was indeed useful. Therefore, as more and more people became officials through examinations, in the same year, the words "Nian Brother" appeared more and more in official communication.

Those confused and helpless officials from poor families rely on the "same year" to cultivate their relationship network.

Such a network looks unreliable. After all, everyone calls each other "Brother Nian" and "Brother Nian" but actually has not had much deep friendship.

But there is always a reason to make friends. As long as you are good at managing, then with this reason, officials from poor families can slowly cultivate their connections in the officialdom and then use each other.

To put it bluntly, your connections need to be maintained by interest exchanges. If there is no interest exchange, even if you are the same clan, your relationship will not be much better. Zheng Yuanshang himself has a deep understanding.

He was born in the Zheng family of Xingyang, but now he can only fight in the officialdom himself. What is the problem?

He cannot give his fellow sects too much help (give benefits), so the fellow sects will not sincerely help him (refunds).

The aristocratic families control the officialdom because they support each other. Today you recommend my children or subordinates, and tomorrow I recommend your children or subordinates, so the relationship becomes increasingly close, and more and more disciples and old officials are.

For officials from poor families, they have no clans and can only build connections by building friendships from the same year.

Is this practice useful?

Zheng Yuanshu thought it was okay because there was a ready-made example now.

The prince-in-law Wei Fuzhuo was in a somewhat awkward situation. Although he married a princess, he was always criticized for relying on being a son-in-law to take a sailboat. So he made up his mind and ran to Jiaozhou, a smoky land, to become an official in Jiaozhou to prove his ability.

Wang Xun, a small official from the Ministry of Rites, was born in a poor family and had no support in the officialdom, without any help. In order to get a chance to perform, he would recommend himself and follow the delegation to Nanyang.

Wang Xun said that he was not seasick, but he was spit out all his bile when he went out on a boat. Because he was not accustomed to the environment, he vomited and had diarrhea, and almost died in a foreign country.

But Wang Xun still gritted his teeth and held on, and he really made it. What is this person working so hard?

To climb up.

Wei Fuzhao and Wang Xun are all trying to climb upwards, so in order to cultivate connections, they try their best to make friends. "The same year" is a good excuse to make friends.

Wei Fuzhu hopes to have more friends in the officialdom, which may be useful in the future, while Wang Xun hopes to have a good relationship with his son-in-law Wei Fuzhu to gain a slim chance so that his name can be passed to the emperor.
Chapter completed!