Chapter 21 Section 21

I saw a middle-aged man wearing a black official uniform with a crown of two beams trotting towards our car in a hurry. The color of the copper seal and ribbon hanging on his waist made me guess his identity at once. He is the magistrate of a small county of three hundred shi. Uncle's entourage led him straight to Uncle's car, apparently the entourage had said something to him, so he wanted to visit Zuo Fengyi who was about to take office.Zuo Fengyi is a high-ranking official of the middle two thousand shi, and he is a small three hundred shi county magistrate, so he naturally wants to flatter his uncle.

He took a bamboo board from his entourage, bowed and handed it to Uncle, probably his name badge.Uncle took it, glanced at it with his eyes, and handed it to his entourage.Then, the two stood in front of the car, exchanging greetings in a serious manner.After a while, I saw the county magistrate gesticulating and ordering his entourage again. Several county officials immediately ran over from a distance and said to our driver: "By the order of Tingjun, please go to the nearby Jingyan Tingshe Rest." Speaking of them, they led our horses back and walked hundreds of steps. There was a fork in the road, which was probably the only place in the middle of Jingxing where we could turn around.The fork road slowly extends up the hillside. The green poplar trees on the lower part of the hillside are lush and lush, and the leaves of the trees are rustling in the mountain wind. The sound is like an ocean of broken flowers. The tide ebbs and flows, never-ending.I vaguely saw more than a dozen houses hidden among the green trees. A long wooden sign was nailed to the largest poplar tree, on which was written three large characters in official script: Jingyan Pavilion.

Seeing us coming, the pavilion chief nodded and bowed happily.The county magistrate of Shangai stayed with uncle for a while before leaving in a hurry. Before leaving, he promised: "The officials will clear the road within two days, please rest assured. If there are any difficulties, just send someone to order Officials, the subordinate officials will be supervising the work at the collapsed site in the past few days, urging the people to speed up their work." Then the head of the pavilion busily arranged a resting place for us. After I settled down, I began to take a good look at the surrounding environment.

The scale of this pavilion is not small, and the number of houses is twice that of the ordinary rural pavilions outside, probably because it is in the middle of Jingxing Valley, so its location is more important.There are hope towers on both sides of the pavilion. It is said that you can overlook the actions of people and horses in the canyon. I really want to go up to have a look, but unfortunately I am too embarrassed to make this request.I had no choice but to sit quietly upstairs, listening to the whistling of the wind boredly, my mind was muddled, and I didn't know what to think. When it was approaching the hour of death, the county magistrate suddenly appeared again, and it turned out that this time he was accompanied by another distinguished guest.I have good eyesight, and when I saw the clothes and seals of that distinguished guest from a distance, I knew that he should be a prince.Although I have never met Liehou, but I have heard my father describe what level of officials should be dressed, and I am very familiar with these.

Sure enough, the county magistrate introduced Uncle: "Your Majesty, this is Fuping Marquis Zhang Gong, the heir of the former Chariot General." My uncle didn't expect to meet a lieutenant here, so he hastily bowed down and said, "Fortunately, I'm going down is Weng Ji, the king of Shouzuo Fengyi who is about to take office. I would like to meet Zhang Hou and ask Zhang Hou if he is safe." The people in our hall also hurriedly bowed down to salute, it is the rule of a big man to bow down when seeing a lieutenant, otherwise it is humiliating the court officials, this point we have been taught many times when we came to Chang'an.

Zhang Hou politely helped his uncle up, and said: "My lord, you don't need to be polite. I just won a title by relying on the hard work of my ancestors and the emperor's consideration of old kindness. Two thousand stones, that's a lot of shame, please hurry up. How dare I be such a big gift as the prince of the palace." I didn't know who Qianche General was, and what was the name of Zhang Hou, so I asked my husband quietly, and he opened his mouth and said softly: "Qianche, General Cavalry, Zhang Anshi, was named Fuping Hou. This Zhang Hou is his heir, whose name is taboo, and I don't know."

Zhang Anshi, this name is like a thunderbolt to my ears.It turned out that his descendants looked like this.His face is round, and even though his hair is tied up in a crown, through the holes in the crown of the black gauze, one can still see the sparseness and bleakness of his hair.What is particularly interesting is that his chin is also smooth, with almost no beard, and the wrinkles between his lips extend in all directions, making him look like an old woman. The county magistrate left the pavilion again after expressing his respectful greetings.He also brought over a dozen chickens, two cages of eggs, and two or three slices of bacon, and asked the pavilion chief to treat us well.In addition, it seems that there is some suspicion to be avoided, and it is claimed that the food for these hospitality comes in strict accordance with the requirements of the imperial court, and there is absolutely no suspicion of bribery.

After our female family members visited Zhang Hou, we all retreated to the wing room in the back hall, leaving only my uncle and husband to serve Zhang Hou in the hall.They chatted happily in the hall, and we sat in the wing room, feeling that the sky was getting darker and darker, and before I knew it, the time was probably past, and my stomach was growling. Fortunately, the maidservant came in at this time to report that the meal had been prepared in the hall, and we were invited to eat in the hall. Zhang Hou invited the head of the pavilion to eat together. This liehou is really approachable.In the past, I always heard that the nobles and princes in Chang'an were very domineering, arrogant and lawless, but now it seems that they are not reliable.

Seeing Zhang Hou's words, Uncle also enthusiastically echoed: "Let's eat together, you're welcome." The food is prepared by the pavilion chief and others, but now he makes himself look like a guest. I feel that there are too many injustices in the world. The head of the pavilion was so flattered that he trembled when he spoke: "Since the Marquis of Ming and the capital of the Ming Mansion both ordered the servants to serve the food, and the servants, the servants should be respectful rather than obedient." Uncle twirled his beard and smiled, very happy for his favor.But he glanced sideways at Zhang Hou, seemed to realize something, and immediately put his hand down again.

I almost laughed out loud, and also took a peek at Zhang Hou. My uncle probably realized that Zhang Hou had no beard to twirl, so I was a little proud to twiddle my beard in front of him. But my uncle seemed to want to cover up this embarrassment, so he asked the pavilion chief, "Where is Ting Zhangjun from? If you dare to ask his name." His tone remained calm, as expected of someone who has been in the officialdom for decades. veteran. The head of the pavilion prostrated himself on the ground and saluted: "How dare you, my humble surname is Wang, and my name is Lihan, so you can call me Lihan."

My uncle was very happy: "Your surname is also Wang. It seems that you were of the same clan five hundred years ago. Li Han is also a good name, which is very beneficial to our Han Dynasty." He glanced at Zhang Hou again, and continued: " Those who are loyal to the country will benefit themselves, and they are sincere. The "Poetry" does not say: "If you have no words, you will not repay them, and if you have no virtue, you will not repay them. If you work hard and do things carefully, you will definitely make great progress in the future." I'm a bit annoyed by Uncle, he heard that all the ministers in Chang'an started their careers with Confucianism, and he followed suit, citing scriptures and classics every day, thinking that this would make him a minister, but I think Zigong's Confucianism is much better than him, and What's the use, I almost didn't even keep my own head.Being an official is fatal, maybe his life is not bad, and now he has been promoted to Zuo Fengyi, and the possibility of being promoted to Jiuqing in the future is indeed not out of the question.However, you are a bit of a fuss over a molehill if you are so polite to a small pavilion chief. Wang Lihan smiled happily: "Thank you for the compliment, the lord, I also hope that one day I will have the opportunity to serve the country!" Zhang Hou also smiled and said: "Your Majesty is right, as long as you work diligently and focus on benefiting the country, the country will not treat you badly." As soon as he finished speaking, I only heard a "hum" in my ears. Wang Lihan's body suddenly trembled violently, and his smiling face just now suddenly froze, as if he was wearing a mask of a rap figurine.His eyes were wide open, as if he was trying to recall something, recalling it with a smile, then he let out a long breath, spat out a mouthful of blood foam, looked forward, and fell to the ground.The shaft of a feathered arrow on its back trembled low, making a sound like rice grains, and it sounded like a bee fluttering its wings. At the same time, a loud laugh came from outside the hall: "Indeed, the country will not treat him badly, and he has fulfilled his wish to serve the country."