Chapter 215: The new strange aide

Zhao Xing glanced at Mao Pang's lost expression at the corner of his eyes. He said calmly: "Teacher, the capital is not my place. In addition, my wife and concubine are pregnant, so I can't travel far. Let me find a position nearby. If it really doesn't work, just retreat to the forest and do business well, which is also a kind of freedom."

Su Shi asked with a smile: "How about Yangzhou?"

Zhao Xing forgot that Su Shi's appointment was the Minister of Personnel, and this position was in charge of officials in the world. It was not easy to arrange a position for Zhao Xing, not to mention that the Empress Dowager Gao in the palace would respond to Su Shi's request.

Zhao Xing touched his chin: "Yangzhou is a good place. People say that they have a lot of money and ride a crane to Yangzhou. But my maiden (qualification) is not enough to be a magistrate. Instead of going to Yangzhou to fight an unsatisfied chief official, it is better to stay at home and watch the concubine have a baby."

If you count it carefully, Zhao Xing’s political achievements in recent years were a shocking report card. The Song Dynasty worked hard for nearly two hundred years before the whole country could raise 30,000 war horses. He spent more than a year in Mizhou and obtained more than 20,000 war horses for Mizhou, and this situation continues. Now the horse fur trade between Mizhou and Liao Kingdom is getting bigger and bigger, and tens of thousands of war horses are transported back to the Song Dynasty almost every year.

The war horse trade was just one of his contributions to Mizhou. In short, he also placed eighteen commanders of the Mizhou regiment training, established the Mizhou stone factory, gypsum factory, textile factory, and fur processing industry, making Mizhou jump from a poor defense state to a major taxpayer in Shandong...

In the past few years in Hangzhou, he has not said anything about his achievements. With the efforts of renovating the road, Zhao Xing reorganized the grassroots regime in Hangzhou. These two things have now shown their effectiveness, and are even more amazing in the long run.

Roads are called "national chains" in the history of human civilization. Wherever the road is built, the area will be firmly tied to the regime. The renovation and improvement of Hangzhou's roads also means that the local government's ruling ability has greatly increased. It was estimated that it would take one month to pass on a government order to the most remote villages, but now it is only one or two days.

The reconstruction and improvement of counties and townships at the grassroots level, on the surface, this behavior has strengthened the Zhao Xing family's control over Hangzhou and made it easier for Hangzhou officials to control the people. For example, government behaviors such as taxation are implemented more quickly and effectively, but the deeper meaning has not yet been revealed.

With the improvement of administrative efficiency, Hangzhou's market volume has also risen. The six-year market tax has collected the quota for the past year and a half. And depending on the situation, this upward trend has not stopped.

These achievements are clearly there. Although Zhao Xing was unwilling to take credit for all of this to Su Shi, Su Shi knew in his heart that over the past year, he had been reporting to Zhao Xing and demanding that the Ministry of Personnel promote Zhao Xing. The Empress Dowager Gao in the palace respond to Su Shi's request. Most of the time, Su Shi did not even describe Zhao Xing's specific contributions, and only handed over a memorial to ask Zhao Xing to be appointed. The Ministry of Personnel had never rejected Su Shi's almost absurd request.

In this year, Zhao Xing's rank was promoted from Digonglang of the 37th rank to 23rd rank, and from Chengyilang of the seventh rank, he was promoted to a bachelor of Baowen Pavilion at the seventh rank. Although his dispatched official had not changed, he was still a magistrate of the eighth rank, but this dispatch was lower than the official and the rank, which was equivalent to being promoted to the first rank.

The county magistrate is about the eighth rank, and only the Chi County magistrate is the seventh rank. Zhao Xing's current official rank is already a low rank, so he said he did not want to be a county magistrate.

But Su Shi had other ideas. He did not answer Zhao Xing's words. He just smiled proudly and pointed at Qin Guan and said, "This time, Shaoyou will join me in Beijing, probably to enter the Hanlin Academy, and Master Yan will also go with him. In this way, there will be less helpers for the people who are familiar with the helpers in the officialdom. I will recommend a few people to you..."

Su Shi is such a person who can't hold back his words. People often say that plans cannot keep up with changes. Before Zhao Xing's appointment was completed, he was already planning his actions after becoming a new official - arrogant, and he can't be so arrogant.

Zhao Xing looked at Mao Pang with a desperate expression and interrupted Su Shi: "Teacher, Mao Zemin has been fully qualified for the position of the law master. Should he also move his position?"

Mao Pang, whose courtesy name is Zemin, was just a ninth-rank juris. It took more time for such a small official to be promoted than for those born to pass the imperial examination like Zhao Xing. Therefore, when Su Dongpo was embarrassed when he asked Zhao Xing, Mao Pang was not embarrassed at all. He followed Zhao Xing's words and quickly moved forward: "I have no high desires in my life, so I can ask a county magistrate to be enough. It is best to be close to the position of someone else, so that I can have some free time in my business and share some rewards with someone else."

Mao Pang's newly edited "The West Chamber" and used Qin Guan's reputation to make him famous. Now he is a well-known poet in the poetry world. But he still wants to go further and use Zhao Xing's resources to renovate several operas and establish his unique position in the opera world.

With this idea, Mao Pang believed that if the area he was in charge was adjacent to Zhao Xing, he would be able to come to Zhao Xing's house during official business, and not only enjoy Zhao Xing's food, but also get fresh views from Zhao Xing and inspire inspiration.

This kind of request may be an excessive demand for others, but Su Shi is a person who is not good at rejecting. He pondered for a moment, nodded and replied: "Since that's the case, I have to think of a way... By the way, where I just said, I would like to recommend a few entourages to you, Li Ren, you should meet the people I recommend, one of whom is Shan E, the courtesy name is Ji Yin, and Jia Hu Jinshi. He is unwilling to be an official. He has been in Taihu Lake for thirty years, inspected Taihu water conservancy, wrote a book, and proposed a method of dredging the Taihu water system. If Li Ren is the head of a county and a state after he becomes a county and a state, this person must be used."

Zhao Xing nodded, and didn't even see anyone, and directly replied: "I've collected it, I've collected it."

Su Shi obviously didn't think that Zhao Xing was a problem to raise a few more people. He continued to introduce to Zhao Xing: "There is another person, the famous coach Fan Shuaizilian, who is a magnificent figure and has a superb strength. He lives alone in Nanyue for decades, is honest and fair, and is not greedy. If a person needs an official, this person is a trustworthy subordinate... Haha, he is similar to Liren, and he is very majestic and tall."

"Collection, collection," Zhao Xing continued to answer.

"There is another person named Wanqiyong (Wanqi is pronounced as mo qi, which is a compound surname), and his courtesy name is Yayan. He is a native of Hangzhou and is famous for his lyrics. He was once a minor official and was well-versed in the officialdom, so he could help the people of the country."

Zhao Xing clapped: "This is the person I need. Teacher, please invite him... Why don't I know the locals in Hangzhou?"

Qin Guan curled his lips: "Li Ren went to work every day and fled back into the castle after get off work. If he didn't come to ask for a meeting, how do you know them?"

I cannot help but admire Su Shi's vast friendship. This guy usually invites guests to 100 guests. Although the places where he hosts often occupy Zhao Xing's Blue House, Zhao Xing does not attend such a singing and reward between poets. With such free time, he likes to settle accounts with his wife and calculate the growth of his own industry, which is happier than spending time writing poetry and lyrics.

If Zhao Xing continues to be an official, he really lacks a guide to the officialdom, because official documents are not something that modern people can deal with. There must be neither typos in officialdom documents, nor can they use allusions in articles at will. Among these allusions, there are many taboos. Sometimes they praise one person but insult another person. In terms of flattery in officialdom, Liao Xiaoxiao knows the habit of treating guests and giving gifts, but cannot deal with complex things like officialdom documents.

Zhao Xing had Deng Yufu's help in Mizhou, so let alone in Hangzhou. With two powerful people, Gao Qiu and Qin Guan, he could ignore all the documents and just focus on doing things. But if he went to another place to serve as a local chief, the official documents were his bottleneck. Wan Qi Yong, recommended by Su Shi, was right for Zhao Xing's appetite.

Among these three, Shuai Fan is the most special. Zhao Xing, the surname Shuai, has never been in contact with him before. It seems that before the Song Dynasty, or before Shuai Fan, there is no famous figure with Shuai's surname. When Zhao Xing heard this name just now, he almost got happy: Shuai Fan, a model of Shuai.

This name seems to be full of the 1980s and has a strong spoof meaning... But this idea just flashed in his mind and forgot it in a blink of an eye.

Shortly afterwards, winter came, and the three people recommended by Su Shi came to visit Zhao Xing at the invitation of Su Shi. At this time, Su Shi's roughly whereabouts had been determined and he was waiting for the official position to take office in the spring of next year. At the same time, Zhao Xing's position also had a roughly whereabouts. He will serve as the county magistrate of Jiangdu County, Yangzhou and the Yangzhou recruitment and pacification envoy.

Yangzhou was the second state in the world in the past, and its municipal tax was ranked after Bianliang and before Hangzhou, but now Hangzhou surpassed it. Therefore, it has recently been called the "third state in the world".

Yangzhou has only one Jiangdu County under its jurisdiction, but Jiangdu County does not have its own separate capital, and the county magistrate also works in Yangzhou City. Yangzhou is the hub of the world, so the Huainan East Road Transport Department is also located here.

The recruitment of the suffrage envoy is called "Shishousi", which is in charge of civil affairs and military defense. In contrast, the Transport Department is called "Caosi", and the pro-subject criminal prison is called "Caosi", which is divided into financial and taxes and lawsuits along the way. The Caosi, the Constitution, and the Supervisory Department are collectively called "Three Sessions". In addition, the Changping Department is called "Cangsi", which is called "Cangsi", and these four people are collectively called the "Four Major Supervisory Departments".

The county magistrate is an eighth-rank official, and the recruitment of the pacification envoy is a road-level official. Zhao Xing's official position is equivalent to skipping a state-level official and being promoted to a sixth-rank official. Zhao Xing's official position is all in the seventh-rank official. If such qualifications end, it means that he has both county magistrate qualifications and road-level official qualifications. In the future, he can skip a state-level official and be promoted to a road-level official directly.

This official position is obviously the special care of the Minister of Personnel. It is simply a special arrangement for people to get promoted, but this also means that Zhao Xing needs to hire more personnel, and he can also give greater official titles to his subordinates, and he has a lot of freedom to place them.

Among the three people introduced by Su Shi, Shan E was arrogant. He passed the imperial examination earlier than Zhao Xing and belonged to his senior. In his fifties, he saw Zhao Xing, a junior in his twenties, and looked a little embarrassed when he saw Su Shi's face. Zhao Xing respectfully invited the other party to the table, chatted for a few words, and then turned to Wanqi Yong. This man was thin and had a treacherous face, with a bit of the expression of a modern Shaoxing master...

The Song people did not say that the Shaoxing master was also full of treacherous. Wan Qi Yong's expression was "clean, wise and capable" in the Song people's mouth. Zhao Xing was very satisfied when he saw it. As for the master, he should look treacherous, and whoever saw it would be wary.

The expression on handsome face is invisible. He is indeed tall, about 1.8 meters tall, and looks very majestic. Zhao Xing can't think of a word to describe the expression on his face. This person seems not to belong to this era, and seems to always look down on the people from a high point.

Zhao Xing had no impression of how this person got into Su Shi's banquet. After seeing Shuai Fan today, he realized that Su Shi also had the hobby of collecting strange characters, and even strange people like Shuai Fan could date him.

Perhaps this is a new hobby that Su Shi developed since he collected Zhao Xing.

After thinking about Shuai Fan for a long time, Zhao Xing couldn't think of a welcome speech because he couldn't figure out what capital Shuai Fan had to be condescending and look down on the world with a look down on his face. Could it be because he is tall and because he has a superior life?

Shuai Fan was also waiting for Zhao Xing to speak. He seemed to be more patient than Zhao Xing. He kept observing Zhao Xing's outfit with a smile. His eyes stayed on Zhao Xing's dragon-skin belt for a long time, his lips squirmed slightly, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Who is your person? As far as I know, it is rare for such a tall person in the south?" Zhao Xing hesitated for a long time and asked.

Shuai Fan spoke with an indescribable accent, as if she was not used to servile and talked equally with others. He asked with confidence: "Who said there are no mighty figures in the south? Didn't you also come from Huangzhou? Is she from Shanxi Linshi, and I have been studying here..."

Zhao Xing said oh, and he suddenly asked: "Who came from the plane?"

The handsome fan's eyebrows were beating slightly. He blinked frequently and asked in a daze: "What kind of airplane? What kind of 'chicken' is that?"

Zhao Xing had nothing to say, and he raised his hand: "Please sit down!"

As soon as Zhao Xing opened his mouth, Liao Xiaoxiao quickly called Shuai Fan to take his seat. Shuai Fan muttered something while walking. Zhao Xing vaguely heard three words, which seemed to be Xin Qiji. He suddenly turned around and stared at Shuai Fan's back. After listening carefully, he heard nothing.

The official positions of Shan E and Wan Qi Yong have been arranged long ago. Shan E will serve as the official of Kongmu and help Zhao Xing handle civil affairs. Wan Qi Yong will serve as the chief secretary and help Zhao Xing handle documents. As for military affairs, Zhao Xing will take the children of Cheng clan together. Among the disciples of Cheng clan, Cheng Wang cannot be transferred, so he will stay to manage the castle. Cheng Shuang, who was originally in charge of the castle, and with two in-laws of the Cheng clan, Huang Bin, Hong Tong, and Ding Jianren, a son of the foreign clan, will leave with Zhao Xing.

Among these people, the only one who is handsome is hard to settle, and I don’t know what Su Shi recommended this person to do.

Seeing Zhao Xing communicating his experience with the other two about his position, Shuai Fan couldn't help but interrupt: "I know a little about marching and fighting. I will go to Yangzhou to pick up some troops. I am willing to train a powerful team for you."

Zhao Xing touched his chin and said thoughtfully: "The imperial army has its own rules and regulations, so it is not easy to interfere in the training of troops. However, I have a Japanese brother, Yuan Yeping, who is training Zhuang Ding for me. Brother Zilian might as well go and have a look."

Shuai Fan Shun said, "What kind of courage is there in the south... Well, the area around Huainan and Huainbei where the adults were born has a brave Huai army."

Zhao Xing's eyebrows jumped and said lightly: "Huai Jun, where is this word?"

Shuai Fan was stunned and immediately replied without blushing, "This means the 'army of Huai land'."

Zhao Xing nodded and stopped asking...

After the three of them said goodbye, Zhao Xing was silent for a long time. Liao Xiaoxiao urged him several times before he came to his senses. As soon as he woke up, he immediately asked Liao Xiaoxiao to confirm: "Xiaoxiao, have you heard it? That handsome fan seemed to have said his personal name just now, it seems to be 'Xin Qiji', is it this pronunciation?"

Liao Xiaoxiao recalled hard, but couldn't remember: "I don't remember. When he was sitting, he seemed to be muttering in his mouth. I seemed to hear that he said that his husband was decisive, hard-hearted, and liked to enjoy luxury. His words were heroic and generous, and seemed to be quite like a person... The original words were just a meaning, but I don't remember what he said, "Xin Qiji". My husband, is this person very famous?"

Very famous, but this person has not been born yet. People in this era should not know this famous name.

Zhao Xing didn't say it, and he said, "Xiaoxiao, Anren is pregnant, Yiyi is pregnant, and it seems that it is not easy to move at this time. It seems that you are going to Yangzhou with me. During the New Year, have you gone to Yangzhou in advance and buy a house there quietly to settle down. Don't be so arrogant. The appointment has not yet been completed. Only a few people know now. Don't reveal your identity, find a house with a pier in the water, buy it in advance, and then find someone to decorate according to our wishes."

Liao Xiaoxiao was interested in this important task, and she hurriedly agreed: "My husband, I have some familiar sisters in Yangzhou. Why not go before the New Year. Go quietly and make a secret. Before the New Year, I can just recruit a group of people to modify the yard. It takes three or two months to wait for my husband to be appointed to ensure that I can move into a new house."

Zhao Xing happily touched Liao Xiaoxiao's head and praised: "With Xiaoxiao, I really save a lot of my heart."

Liao Xiaoxiao was so happy that she was about to go out to get some clothes. After taking a step, she stopped again and asked suspiciously: "Mr., you shouldn't send me to find that fox girl?"

Zhao Xing widened his eyes and scolded innocently: "Azhu and Yi Yi both said you are a fox and charming boy. Why do you still want to talk about others? Are there anyone in the family who is more charming than you?"

Liao Xiaoxiao replied in a stack of voices: "Of course, 'that little maid is so delicate, she leans against the railings. She blows lightly, cherry, free picking, bamboo shoots, and loves some aura and pretends to be pink'... Do you know who I am talking about? Hu, very Hu."

Zhao Xingyang slapped Liao Xiaoxiaotong in the face and scolded him: "Stop making trouble, go quickly."

Liao Xiaoxiao giggled and ran away. After a while, Cheng Shuang came over with a stack of files. He handed Zhao Xing the files and said, "The teacher asked for the report... Teacher, the three newcomers have settled down. The two short ones are browsing the scenery around, reciting poems and writing poems. Who is that big man? He went to the martial arts gym in Dongshan, stayed there and did not leave, and frequently pointed at Yuan Yeping.

However, he praised more and criticized less. I heard what he meant, saying that the training method formulated by the teacher was very good, but unfortunately Yuan Yeping was gone when he was executed, Yuan Yeping was so angry that he wanted to compete with him."

Zhao Xing asked interested: "What is the result?"

Cheng Shuang replied: "That man can't shoot arrows, and he insisted on using muskets to fight Yuan Ye. Teacher, how do outsiders know about our muskets? How can they use them?"

Zhao Xing shook his head and muttered: "There are too many suspicions... Forget it. Ignore him and let him make trouble. Give him another fifty newcomers and ask him to go to training."

In the autumn of that year, Wen Yanbo retired, and Liu Zhi was promoted to the Minister of Shangshu Right Pushe and the Minister of the Secretariat. Wang Yansou, a long-tu Pavilion, signed the letter to the Privy Council. Su Che was promoted to the Right Prime Minister of Shangshu, and Su Song served as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Zhao Xing's friend, Tanhua Xu Shixi, was promoted to the Privy Council, in charge of (military) litigation.

After Su Song took charge of the Song Dynasty's money bags, he also changed some of the practices of military weapon supervision. The musket samples found by Zhao Xing were troublesome to clear the chamber, expensive to make them easy to explode, so they were modified by Su Song to become bamboo muskets. As a result, the sudden muskets that once appeared in history appeared thirty or forty years in advance.

The muskets mentioned by the Song people now refer to the kind of striking muskets. However, the musket competition mentioned by Shuai Fan obviously does not refer to the striking muskets, because the accuracy of that kind of musket is not as accurate as a bow and arrow...

Another major event this fall was that the talented Shen Kuo successfully developed water conservancy machinery. The invention of this reform meant the birth of hydraulic stamping machines. Zhao Xing could use hydraulic stamping machines to forge thinner and harder plate armor here.

Hydraulic machines also brought about changes in weaving machinery. Weaving machinery powered by hydraulic power has made weaving workshops in Hangzhou bloom everywhere. Shen Kuo, who was calm in research, seemed to have escaped the trouble of depression and was leading a group of Israelis and Cheng disciples to concentrate on promoting transmission equipment to a wider application. With such a calm mind, what followed was the transformation of industrial mother machines such as lathes.

The changes that happened to Shen Kuo made Zhao Xing very satisfied. Only then did he truly understand the meaning of fulfilling his talents.

Shen Kuo has a hobby of informing and a talent for research, but the direction he develops depends entirely on how Zhao Xing controls his development direction.

Shen Kuo is like this, and handsome guy is the same. So Zhao Xing thought for a moment, then threw the matter of this person aside, lowered his head and read the newspaper.

There were several news in the newspaper that Cheng Shuang brought to him. Zhao Xing was very interested in it. "In the Gengzi, Fuji Kingdom came to pay tribute. Ding Chou, he was appointed as the Ali Gu Man Xibang Biaohu as the training envoy of the Outingzhou Tuan..." There are two statements in this country of Fuji Kingdom. One is Frank, and the other is Rome. Zhao Xing wanted to meet this foreign businessman who was appointed as an official in the Song Dynasty. He closed the newspaper and asked Cheng Shuang: "Where did the merchant of Fuji Kingdom go to sea?"

Cheng Shuang replied: "I didn't go out to sea. The guy came from the Western Regions and brought hundreds of camels' goods. He was setting up stalls in the capital. I heard that when he went back, he planned to buy thousands of camel caravans' things."
Chapter completed!