As soon as Xu Xiao left, the surplus generals and captains of Lingzhou gradually gathered outside a mansion and handed over their letters to the general's gatekeeper. Most of the letters were made of expensive materials and were written in gold. One could not expect these rough men from the general's family to have any lofty and ancient style. On this street, the governor's mansion had the highest threshold. Logically speaking, it should have the most visitors, but the Lingzhou general's new mansion was full of people, which made people gasp in amazement. Inside the mansion, Hsu Fengnian was chatting with Xu Beizhi. Unexpectedly, when Xu Beizhi heard that he could not get an official position on Li Gongde's side, not only did he not find it strange, he even said that this was reasonable. Hsu Fengnian could not tell whether this fellow was praising him for being slippery or mocking him for being a fox relying on the tiger's might to get things done. However, since Xu Beizhi was not in a rush to become an official of the provincial governor, Hsu Fengnian took advantage of the situation and waited for the news happily. The housekeeper of the mansion, Zheng Fulu, was an old member of the prince's mansion that had been transferred from Mount Qingliang to Lingzhou. He was middle-aged and had a dignified appearance. In the past, His Royal Highness had spent a lot of money to buy poetry and literature. The silver had all been handled by Zheng Fulu, so he was very reliable in his work. At this moment, he jogged to the door of the study with a face full of joy and reported to the heir about the bustle outside the mansion. He held a large bag of name cards and scraped off the gold powder on them. It was probably enough for him to go to Lingzhou's Tiger Hill Restaurant to eat and drink. Hsu Fengnian waved his hand at Zheng Fulu and said, "Reject all of them. Just say that I won't see a single one of them."
Zheng Fulu bowed and made a sound of acknowledgment. He did not have any doubts and went back the way he came. He said that the Lingzhou general would not be seeing any guests today and then directly closed the gate of the mansion. He did not even let the side gate go. It was clear that there was no room for negotiation and this made everyone give up completely. These martial artists who were tyrannical in Lingzhou were not very dejected when the gate was closed. They had originally called their friends and came in groups to join in on the fun. Who would really hope that the Lingzhou general who had only been there for a few days would give them a promotion? In the end, it was the identity of Beiliang's heir that made them have no choice but to lower themselves and drink the northwest wind this time. Furthermore, there was an unwritten rule in Beiliang's officialdom. Youzhou was mostly Yan Wenluan's while most of Lingzhou was Zhong Hongwu's private backyard. The two sides had never interfered with each other. This group of people were mostly the old subordinates of General Huaihua. Some of the direct subordinates who were deeply indebted to General Zhong were not even willing to show their faces. For example, a few captains with real power under the deputy general all gathered around the stove to boil wine. They secretly cursed that this heir was too vicious. He had just destroyed General Zhong's face and he actually did not want to stop while he was ahead. He swaggered into Lingzhou and stepped on the old general's face that had already fallen to the ground. There were no young people who were as unparticular as him. They were all filled with righteous indignation, fighting for the old general's justice. One or two captains with bad tempers immediately slammed the table and stood up. A few of the more shrewd ones also had a dark expression as they drank wine. If they were asked to rebel against the Xu family, they would not dare to even if they had a hundred guts. However, after being immersed in the officialdom for the past few years, they had learned a lot of tricks. They slacked off when they encountered something and were able to do it easily. Furthermore, not only were they a group of martial artists, everyone present was also related to the civil officials of Lingzhou's officialdom by marriage. These old foxes who sat behind the official's desk were well aware of the rules and regulations. They did not even need to say anything angrily for the Lingzhou officialdom to operate properly. Most importantly, no one could find fault with it. Didn't you scholars from other places come to Lingzhou to steal rice bowls? The hatred of stealing someone's official hat was far greater than the hatred of stealing someone's love. After these military officers discussed and weighed the pros and cons, they all left with sinister smiles on their faces.
Beiliang had a small number of scholars, so most of them were officials from humble backgrounds. This group of people actually did not lack intelligence, naturally keen on currying favor. If the high officials could be said to be the awe-inspiring King of Hell on the stage, then this group of people were the even more difficult to deal with little ghosts guarding the door. If some of these officials had brilliant methods, they could even make the officials into mere figureheads, controlling the officialdom, making their superiors become mere decorations. When Zhang Julu governed the imperial court, one of his policies was to target the shortcomings of the officials, directly viewing them as a disaster that harmed the country's throne. However, Grand Secretary Zhang was publicly acknowledged to be good at governing the country, but when it came to dealing with the officials, there was no improvement. There were also many important officials in the imperial court who criticized and ridiculed him. In particular, some of the pillars of the imperial court who came from humble backgrounds even chose to watch from the sidelines. If the imperial court, where scholars made up the majority, was still in such a state, Beiliang naturally would not be able to escape this fate. As a result, Lingzhou, which was right at the end of the year, was quickly thrown into chaos. Documents gradually piled up, gangs fought in the streets, criminals killed each other in prison, the granaries of the government either caught fire for no reason or became moldy by a few inches. All kinds of trivial matters sprung up like bamboo shoots after the rain. Forget about those county and county officials who were badly battered, afraid that they would not be able to have a peaceful year, even the Administrator Li Gongde began to feel tired dealing with it. Every day, there were lower level officials who came to complain. On the contrary, Hwangnam County seemed like a crane in a flock of chickens, its political affairs large and small orderly. Longqing County was the complete opposite, its situation especially miserable, leaking air from all directions. It was rumored that Governor Zhong Chengxin personally took care of everything, busying himself to the point where he lit a lantern every night, so worried that he already had a few strands of white hair.
Lingzhou's officialdom was a mess. The front of the Lingzhou General's manor was deserted, matching the cold winter season.
A carriage silently drove out of Lingzhou's capital and headed toward Hwangnam County. The coachman wore a short jacket made of yellow wolf skin. The more burly he was, the more shabby he seemed. No one would believe that he was the deputy general of Lingzhou.
In the carriage, other than Hsu Fengnian, there was also the servant girl Huyan Guanyin. These days, Hsu Fengnian had been reading through the records of Lingzhou's officials in detail. There were many red circles and he did not pay much attention to this young girl who would have made it onto the rankings if she had come to Beiliang earlier. For this trip, when Hsu Fengnian crossed the threshold, he decided to have Zheng Fulu call her over to follow him out of the city. He did not know if it was because she was not acclimatized to the environment, but Huyan Guanyin was not as lively as she was when she was in a difficult situation on the grasslands. Her spirit was dim, and she was not as spirited as before. Hsu Fengnian thought that after returning to Lingzhou, if he had the chance, he would send her to a safe and quiet place. It was better than being sick and slowly destroyed in a noble residence. Some women were either held tightly in the palm of one's hand or truly treasured. Instead, it was a waste of natural resources. Originally, if Huyan Guanyin could adapt to Beiliang, Hsu Fengnian would not mind keeping her by his side. It did not matter if he ate her or not. Looking at her was pleasing to the eye and was good for the eyes. Hsu Fengnian was not idle during this trip. He had a document on the background of a few important officials in Hwangnam County. These densely packed and delicate small regular script were the painstaking efforts of the second-class servant girls in Wutongin after working through the night. Hsu Fengnian, who had been with them for many years, could tell at a glance which was written by the green ants and which was written by the cucumbers.
Hsu Fengnian rubbed the space between his eyebrows and put down the stack of letters. After going through it in his mind, he lifted the curtain. The unique cold air of the cold land hit him in the face. Hsu Fengnian did not put down the curtain for a long time. After leaving the city, Huyan Guanyin was a little sleepy. She curled up in the corner of the carriage, unable to endure the drowsiness. She was slightly dozing off. When the wind blew, she suddenly woke up. She quietly looked at the side of his face and bit her thin lips. Her lips were bright red and glistening, making people mistakenly think that if she bit a little harder, a few drops of blood would come out.
Hsu Fengnian saw that she was not used to the cold and quickly put down the curtain. He smiled warmly and said, "I couldn't sleep last night, so I wandered around aimlessly. I saw a pot of Impatiens by the window of your room. It's clearly past the flowering period, so how could it still bloom in such a cold weather?"
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