Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law.

Chapter 631: Zhang He: The prince is a man who cherishes old times.

Pingting County.

Under the rule of Chen Mo, the four states had long been stable and the order that only existed in peaceful times had been restored. The post stations on the official roads had also been repaired, and officials were stationed in the government offices of each county. Therefore, after the list of the imperial examination was sent from Xiangyang, it took only seven days for it to reach Pingting County under the expedited delivery of 800 miles.

Along with the examination list, there also arrived news from Luonan and military reports.

The current county magistrate of Pingting County is the former chief clerk Zhao Daoxian. Although Pingting County is only a county town, due to its special nature, Zhao Daoxian's authority is stronger than that of an ordinary county magistrate.

After receiving the news, he personally posted a notice to announce it. In his heart, the promotion of Duke Anguo to King of Wei was much more important than the list of candidates in this examination.

With the government's instigation, the news, which was already explosive enough, immediately spread throughout Pingting County and the neighboring Qingting County at the fastest speed.

You know, the people of these two counties are the basic base for Chen Mo to start his career. As Chen Mo's power and authority grew, many people moved to Xiangyang and Longmen County of Yuzhou. However, the locals in the two counties are still mostly immigrants. Due to the special nature of the two counties, the people in the two places have a natural sense of superiority.

This is just like in Chen Mo's previous life, when some of the Beijing and Shanghai gentry looked down on outsiders.

Moreover, Chen Mo's official position became higher and higher, and his power became greater and greater. The local people also felt proud of it, and it was also a capital for them to show off.

This also means that if someone in the community dares to say bad things about Chen Mo, they will be the first to disagree, the first to stand up to protect Chen Mo's reputation, and will also take the initiative to publicize Chen Mo's achievements.

Let’s take an example.

join the army.

Throughout history, no matter which dynasty, no good family would join the army unless they could not survive or the court forcibly conscripted them. The people had no respect for the army, only contempt, and they were even called soldiers by the people.

However, the people of the two counties were proud to join Chen's army and used it as a source of bragging.

Even if he was just a small soldier in the Xianzhen Guard, he would be a hot commodity in the eyes of matchmakers in the two counties.

The support of the people and the gratitude of the scholars made Chen Mo very popular among the people.

Therefore, as soon as the news spread, people in the two counties cheered.

At the same time, this jealous respect and admiration made the already marginalized Zhang He still the object of flattery by the people and officials of the two counties.

Zhang family.

Although "Guo Xian" had not yet married Zhang He's daughter Zhang Zhu, in the eyes of the Zhang family's servants, "Guo Xian" was already the Zhang family's son-in-law, with a respected status. Sometimes Zhang He would even ask for "Guo Xian's" opinion in advance before doing anything.

It was noon and Zhang He's family was having lunch.

Suddenly the housekeeper came to report that Lord Zhao had arrived.

Zhang He went to greet him personally.

Although he was the first old man to follow Chen Mo, he had fallen out of favor after all. Outsiders didn't know it, but Zhao Daoxian knew it. Besides, Zhao Daoxian had followed Chen Mo for only a few months shorter than him, and this man was educated, and his upper limit was much higher than his own.

"Haha, General Zhang, congratulations to you."

Zhang He was a little puzzled and said, "Master Zhao is here, I wonder why I am so happy?"

"General Zhang has two good news. One is that Duke Anguo has eliminated the rebels Lu Sheng, Chu Yan and others, successfully rescued Your Majesty, and has made great contributions. He has been promoted to the King of Wei, and the King of Wei has asked Your Majesty to confer a title on General Zhang, and he has been promoted to the position of Inspector of the Ministry of Works.

The second congratulation is that General Zhang has found a good son-in-law. Guo Xian has passed the imperial examination and ranked 47th on the list, which is also considered to be among the best. Now that the court has a vacant official position, the son-in-law's future prospects are limitless. "Zhao Daoxian said with some envy.

Zhang He was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped. He quickly welcomed Zhao Daoxian in and wanted to confirm it carefully. Zhang Zhu, who was behind him, happened to hear it. Her heart was about to explode with joy. She looked at Guo Lang beside her, and had already made up her mind that she would marry no one else but him. It was not until Zhang He coughed that she hurriedly went with "Guo Xian" to welcome Zhao Daoxian.

"I would like to congratulate you, young friend." Zhao Daoxian bowed to "Mr. Guo" and took the initiative to call him "young friend" to get closer to him.

He ranked 47th among the tribute scholars. His future achievements will be much higher than his.

In the hall, with the arrival of Zhao Daoxian, the female family members had already left. Zhao Daoxian was drinking tea with Zhang He, and both of them were very happy.

Zhao Daoxian said: "Congratulations, General Zhang, you have such a good son-in-law. It's really enviable."

Zhang He had already finished reading the list brought by Zhao Daoxian. He was very happy after reading it, and felt somewhat proud of himself for choosing "Guo Xian". Fortunately, he had already taken action at that time. Otherwise, if he had waited until now, he might not have been able to become the ideal son-in-law.

Even these forty-seventh place is much worse than the top place in Qingzhou.

But the imperial examination is different from the provincial examination. The questions in the four states are the same. To be able to get the forty-seventh place among the top candidates in the provincial examination is extremely extraordinary.

At least this is real stuff, not watered down.

Moreover, Mo Ge'er was young, but he had already been promoted to King of Wei. He held a high position and had great power. It could be said that he had already taken half a step towards the supreme position. When the time came, he would mention Guo Xian in front of Mo Ge'er. Then, as long as Guo Xian worked hard, it would not be impossible for him to become a general or a prime minister in the future.

The look he gave towards "Guo Xian" was one of increasing satisfaction. If he had not hoped that Chen Mo could be the witness, he would probably have let "Guo Xian" and Zhang Zhu get married that very day.

"Guo Ning."

"Guo Xian", whose real identity is Dai Tu, was stunned when he saw the name of the top scorer in the list of tribute scholars.

"Young man, do you know Huiyuan?" Zhao Daoxian asked.

"Replying to Lord Zhao, I also have a good friend named Guo Ning, with the same name and surname, but he failed the provincial examination. Now when I saw that Gong Huiyuan's name is also Guo Ning, I was a little stunned for a moment." Dai Tu said quickly.

Zhao Daoxian had no doubts about this. After all, "Guo Xian" was from Cangzhou. He said, "I heard that Guo Ning is a candidate from Huaizhou. The southern region has a deeper foundation than the north, and it was not affected by the war much. It is normal for a candidate to win the first prize. If Guo Xian also has the environment of a southern student, it is still unclear who will win the first prize."

Dai Tu's palm trembled involuntarily, and then he said calmly: "Master Zhao, thank you for your praise."

Zhang He was very happy with what Zhao Daoxian said.

After all, he is a scholar, and the words he speaks are so nice and beautiful.

"Now that the big thing has been decided, does Lord Zhao know when the prince will come back? I plan to have the prince be the witness for the couple's wedding." Zhang He said without hiding his thoughts.

Zhao Daoxian chuckled twice and said, "General Zhang, you don't know that a huge change has occurred in Luonan, it seems to be an earthquake. The court plans to move the capital to Tianchuan, and the prince may not be able to come back for a while.

Moreover, Mr. Geng Songfu has been appointed Prime Minister under the recommendation of the prince, and has already come to Beijing to take up his post. Perhaps the prince will live in Tianchuan for a long time in the future."

"What, Lord Geng has been appointed Prime Minister?!" Zhang He was already shocked by the first half of Zhao Dao's words.

Zhang He knew Geng Songfu inside and out. He was from Gaozhou and had served as the county magistrate of Wutai County in Gaozhou. Later, when the world was in turmoil, he came to Qingzhou and joined Chen Mo, who had just started his career at that time, and served as the county lieutenant of Pingting County.

Later, as Chen Mo's official position became higher and higher, Geng Songfu's position also rose rapidly. He was first the magistrate of Pingting County, then the prefect of Qingzhou and Huaizhou, and now he has become the prime minister of the dynasty.

Zhao Daoxian smiled and said, "Not only Lord Geng, Lord Zuo Lianglun, and Lord Huang Xiu from Yuzhou, but even I, have all been promoted to a higher level."

After hearing this, Zhang He's eyes became a little dazed.

Chen Mo was really good to his subordinates. If he ate meat, they could eat meat too. Even the worst ones could get some soup to drink.

If he had not been short-sighted and embezzled those few hundred taels, he would have achieved great success now with his qualification as the first person to follow Chen Mo.

However, there is no regret medicine in this world. Now he can only pin his hopes on "Guo Xian".

He said, "If the prince settles in Tianchuan, what about Zhu'er's marriage?"

"General Zhang, don't worry. The time for the palace examination is not yet determined. When Lord Geng and his men come to Beijing this time, they will definitely mention the palace examination. Who knows, Guo Xiaoyou may come to Beijing to take part in the palace examination. If Guo Xiaoyou passes, wouldn't it be better for the two newlyweds to get married in Tianchuan? Maybe His Majesty will also come." Zhao Daoxian said.

Hearing this, Zhang He's eyes lit up. Perhaps the Zhang family could take this opportunity to move to Tianchuan.

Only Dai Tu's face showed no trace of joy, and even a strong sense of worry.

Zhao Daoxian did not stay in Zhang's house for long. After the two chatted about the past for a while, he left.

After Zhao Daoxian left, Zhang He immediately asked "Guo Xian": "My dear son-in-law, what kind of official is this Jianxiu Sikong? Is he a high-ranking official?"

There were many types of official positions in the imperial court, such as the Inspector General of Works, which Zhang He had never heard of before.

Dai Tu was thinking about something at the moment, so he spoke directly after hearing this, without being too tactful: "This is just a casual official of our Song Dynasty, with no job duties. He was appointed by imperial decree, and it is not an official promotion, but his position is higher than that of a regular official."

Hearing this, Zhang He's expression changed.

Even Zhao Daoxian was promoted, but he himself was not promoted at all, and was just given a nominal title.

Could it be that the prince has not forgotten what happened in the past?
At this moment, Dai Tu calmed down from his previous emotions and found that Zhang He's face was not right. Knowing the hidden truth, he hurriedly said: "Don't worry, father-in-law. Although this Jianxiu Sikong is just a sinecure, it can at least show that the King of Wei has not forgotten the father-in-law. He can appoint the father-in-law as Jianxiu Sikong in his busy schedule, which means that the King of Wei still remembers the friendship and has forgotten the previous things.

As long as my father-in-law doesn't make the same mistakes again, he may be able to help the King of Wei in the future."

After hearing what "Mr. Guo" said, Zhang He's eyes lit up and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Yes, if the prince still remembers what happened in the past.

You can just ignore me, so why do you give yourself the title of Jianxiu Sikong?

All I can say is that the prince is a sentimental person.

As long as the son-in-law that I choose can catch the prince's eye, I can be considered to have helped the prince to "recruit talents", and there will be opportunities for me to be used by the prince in the future.

Zhang He has made up his mind that he will study harder in the future.

In this way, if the prince needs me in the future, I will be able to keep up with the pace and not be completely unable to help.

Of course, his doubled learning was not about cultivation, but about managing people.

He also knew that he was not cut out for cultivation, so he had to choose something relatively easy.

……

The Xiao family and the Wu family.

After knowing what happened in Luonan, the whole family felt as if they were drowned in a jar of honey, almost fainting from the sweetness.

Among them, the Wu family was the most prosperous.

To be honest, at that time the Wu family was "comfortable with their status quo" and did not care about the power in the court. They were forced to marry Chen Mo. After Chen Mo and Wu Mi got married, the matter was a foregone conclusion and could not be changed. Naturally, the Wu family hoped to get more.

And Chen Mo did not disappoint them.

First she was the wife of the county marquis.

Then there are the first-class duke’s wife and the first-class imperial lady.

And then to the current Princess Wei.

Even the head of the family became Si Tu, one of the Three Dukes.

It can be said that with these, the Wu family can firmly sit on the throne of one of the seven famous families.

The most important thing is that Wu Mi was Chen Mo’s legal wife and gave birth to a son, Chen Jia.

As long as Chen Jia is fine, the Wu family will be fine.

If Chen Jia becomes the crown prince in the future, the status of the Wu family will also rise.

At this time, the Wu family had already begun to think about increasing the original investment capital.

At that time, the looted property of Prince Huai could be taken out.

Of course, the Xiao family also knew that they could not compare with the Wu family, so Chen Mo was right in not destroying the bridge after crossing it.

Now that Xiao Jing has been given an official position and Xiao Yunxi has been given the title of lady, it is already an unexpected surprise.

Moreover, if Xiao Yunxi could give Chen Mo a son in the future, the Xiao family might not be able to ask for more.

……

Shu Prefecture.

After Yang Xian learned the news about Luo Nan, he was a little confused and didn't feel very happy.

At the beginning, he chose to let Jiang Li take action against Prince Huai and marry his daughter to Chen Mo. Although he supported Chen Mo and hoped that Chen Mo could succeed in his mission to serve the king, he did not expect that Chen Mo could be so successful.

What Yang Xian hoped more was that Chen Mo would win against Lu Sheng in a narrow way, so that the latter would have to rely more on him, rather than a big victory like the current one.

That’s right, Yang Xian is also a tyrant. Only if Chen Mo wins miserably can he use his status as a “hero” to profit from it and expand his territory.

But now Chen Mo has won a great victory, and there is not much loss. So, if it were you, you are in power and at your peak. Without the biggest threat, would you tolerate others occupying one side and commanding an army? Wouldn't you want to bring the whole world under your control?

We have to find ways to suppress and weaken it.

And from Jiang Li's reply, Chen Mo might have already entered the second level of divine transformation realm.

After all, Lu Sheng, who activated the Soul-Devouring Formation, died at the hands of Chen Mo. If he was only at the supernatural power realm, he would not be able to do this.

Just as Yang Xian was thinking about what to do next.

The imperial edict from the court summoning all the princes and officials to come to Beijing also arrived in Shu Prefecture.

Let Yang Xian go to Beijing immediately after receiving the imperial edict without any mistake.

If you disobey the order, you will be charged with treason.

(End of this chapter)