imperial psychologist

Chapter 711
Wang Meng laughed, and lightly kicked the horse's belly with both feet, "Go for a walk."

Berlin quickly followed.

When the two walked to a secluded place, Wang Meng said, "After getting along for a while, what does Song Qing think of Shao Kuan?"

Bai Ling thought for a while, and replied, "I am an upright official, and I also have benevolence in my heart, but occasionally I care too much about feathers... Maybe it is a common problem of civil servants."

Wang Meng laughed out loud.

"What are you laughing at, Lieutenant General?" Bo Ling was a little strange.

"If he hadn't cherished his feathers, he wouldn't have been looking both ways to be the county magistrate." Wang Meng said with a smile, "If you ask him what disease he has today, it may be the disease of cherishing feathers!"

Bo Ling was confused, but soon understood what Wang Meng meant.

Last spring, Shao Kuan seriously read Cao Xun's book.

The reason is simple. Cao Xun handed over the entire city defense of Zhuozhou to Shenjichuan, who guarded Zhuozhou at that time.

General Shen's character is obvious to all in the north, and Shao Kuan himself does not doubt that Shen Jichuan will rebel or have other evil intentions.

It's just that it is extremely necessary for civil servants and military officials to restrain each other, which limits the power of both parties institutionally.For someone like Cao Xun who took the initiative to push himself aside and act as a shopkeeper, of course there would be no big troubles in this special situation, but if the court did not impose severe punishment, but let it go, I am afraid that it would lead to a very bad start in the future.

At that time, all states and counties will compete to follow suit... When the military strategists dominate, the northern border will be in chaos.

"That's the truth," Wang Meng said softly, "but Cao Xun had been in the northern border for nearly four years at that time, and he hadn't made any serious mistakes. Changing people at this time might be detrimental to the frontier defense. So the court verbally reprimanded Cao Xun. The prefect's lazy administration did not actually give any punishment."

"No wonder..." Bai Ling laughed, "Before I left Zhuozhou, the magistrate gave me a mission."

"what?"

"Master Cao asked me to see if there is any injustice along the way in the northern border." Bai Ling said softly, "Master Shao is not the only one who is dissatisfied with Cao Xun in the prefectures and counties along the way."

"Hahaha," Wang Meng laughed, "We don't understand civil servants. However, the prefect of Cao respects the two generals Chang and Shen very much, so he treats us well at ordinary times. Magistrate Shao doesn't want to see the prefect Cao. He has his own reasons, we should still be polite."

When the two of them talked here, they suddenly heard the sound of footsteps, and a messenger came to report that the carriage of Cao Xun, the magistrate of Cao, had arrived one or two miles ahead.

Wang Meng and Bo Ling quickly returned to the team, and everyone lined up again to welcome Cao Xun's car.

During the day today, the snow fell intermittently, and all the hot air from the breath turned into snow-white mist. It was really cold in this field.

Even so, Cao Xun had no choice but to get out of the car and say hello to Wang Meng.

After getting out of the car for a while, the tip of his nose was already red with cold, and his whole face looked a little funny.Seeing that his sleeves were bulging and he was covering his abdomen, Bo Ling quickly saw that Mr. Cao was covering Mrs. Tang all the time.

After chatting for a few words, Cao Xun couldn't stand the cold, and hurried back to the carriage, and the group of people slowly looked towards both sides.

"This is unbearable?" Xue Zian muttered in a low voice, "We have been waiting here for more than an hour without any cover."

Bai Ling glanced at him and said with a smile, "Be careful that your brother will hear you again."

Xue Zian looked around, and when he was sure that Xue Ziping and Wang Meng were walking at the front of the line, he snorted softly.

……

After entering the county government office, sitting by the charcoal basin and grilling for a while, Cao Xun gradually regained his energy.

Wang Meng sent someone to fetch his tiger skin blanket, wrapped it tightly for Mr. Cao, and sent someone to bring warm wine. After more than half an hour of delay, Cao Xun finally let out a sigh of relief. in one breath.

"Where's Shao Kuan?" Cao Xun looked at the magistrate with a stern face, "How long has the magistrate been in the yamen? Your Master Shao is really sick, can't you get up now?"

"Go back... Go back to the mansion platform, we, Mr. Shao, are already changing clothes."

"Change clothes for half an hour?" Cao Xun said coldly, "Did he start changing clothes from weaving?"

Wang Meng smiled, "Master Cao, don't worry, come, have another drink."

Cao Xun changed his smiling face again and held the cup in both hands, "Your lieutenant has worked hard, the roads are really slippery in snowy weather, and the diverging roads are difficult, so it is so long late..."

"Prefect Cao doesn't need to worry about such a small matter," Wang Meng asked, "Why did the master of the government come to both sides to look here? Is there a purpose or...?"

"I'm here to adjust the grain myself," Cao Xun replied.

"Food adjustment?"

"That's right, three of the six main warehouses in Zhuozhou burned down overnight. Although the rest is enough to eat, the stock is still too small." Cao Xun's confidence grew when he said this, "After all Zhuozhou still maintains half of the Chang family army. Fortunately, the gold thieves have not made any moves in the past few days, and there should be no more wars in the future."

Wang Meng nodded, "But they haven't retreated, and they can't take it lightly."

"Hey," Cao Xun waved his hand, "They will be leaving soon."

Wang Meng raised his eyebrows slightly, "What?"

"These gold thieves are not retreating, they are waiting for our reply," Cao Xun said with a soft smile, "They sent letters to all the state capitals earlier, saying that they want to reopen the grain and horse trade."

Bai Ling's eyes lighted up slightly. If the trade can really be opened up and the war stopped, that would be a great thing.

Cao Xun replied, "Gold thieves are gold thieves. Once we open our mouths, we will hand over [-]% of the state treasury's food reserves every year—"

"Turn it in?" Bo Ling thought he had heard it wrong, "The grain and horse market...doesn't it mean buying and selling grain and horses with each other?"

"There is such a good thing," Cao Xun sneered, "They send five hundred horses every year, and they ask us for hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, and we almost snatch it—we can't agree to this kind of condition, but this year's gold The thief is seriously injured in the rear, and it is impossible to have any spare energy to come to trouble us again."

"Prefect Cao said we are waiting for a reply, but who are we waiting for?" Wang Meng asked.

"It's from Pingjing." Cao Xun replied, "We just received the letter from the gold thief, and we rushed to deliver the letter to Beijing. After all, it's not easy for us to make decisions about this kind of thing."

"Then how much grain has been plundered in Yanzhou this time, does the prefect Cao know?" Wang Meng asked again.

Cao Xun laughed, "I don't know the specifics, but Fang Zhifu may not be able to keep his black hat this year. If Yanzhou can't transfer grain to the south this year, he will not be able to survive. It's a pity that Fang Zhifu and I used to be old friends. , people are not bad, know how to adapt, bad luck fell here this time, I will definitely not be able to go back to the capital next year..."

(End of this chapter)