Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 69: Traveling Officials

May of the second year of Zhongping.

While Zhang Yang was traveling south to transport money for Zhang Yu, he noticed that the price of horses in Luoyang had doubled, so he sold some horses and made a fortune.

Outside the wine house, Zhang Yu finally saw Zhang Yang, whom he hadn't seen for more than a year. Compared to the year before, Zhang Yang's clothes and accessories were more luxurious. It was obvious that Zhang Yang had made a lot of money since the opening of the market.

Also traveling with them were Hao Zhao and Shi Yi. Since they had only been separated for half a year, Shi Yi had not changed much, but Hao Zhao had grown a lot bigger than before.

Several people drank and talked about recent events.

Zhang Yang was very happy about Zhang Yu's appointment as county magistrate, and he drank several cups in a row with Zhang Yu.

"Since our ancestors of the Zhang family were exiled to Yunzhong according to the law, they have been county officials for generations, living in the frontier. Now it has been passed down to my brother and Ji'an. My brother is the captain of the department, and Ji'an is the county magistrate. Our Zhang family may prosper!" Zhang Yang said with a smile while drinking.

Zhang Yu pressed down Zhang Yang's hand that was pouring the wine and said with a smile, "Uncle, you should drink less. We have to visit the palace later."

"Correct!"

Zhang Yang seemed to have just woken up from a dream. He stopped pouring the wine and said, "I almost made a mistake because of drinking. If I meet my relatives drunk, I will lose my manners!"

"Take the wine away quickly, so no one will drink it by mistake!"

The Zhang family treated their relative, the Wang family, with great respect, fearing that they would fail to follow etiquette and have people gossip about the Wang family's humble status behind their backs.

"Uncle, how is the family doing lately?" Zhang Yu asked.

Zhang Yang pondered for a moment and said, "Due to the opening of border trade, the Xianbei people often drive their cattle and horses to Canhewu to trade in order to get money and food. My Zhang family gets the cattle and horses from the Hu people and then resells them in Hebei and Hedong. Now we have two trade routes, which go back and forth every two months, and the money we earn is increasing day by day."

"Although there was chaos in the Central Plains last year, we were still able to trade in Hedong, and because horses were in short supply, we could still earn 200,000 to 300,000 each time we went out to trade. So since Ji'an left his hometown, the situation in the village has been getting better and better. The three tribes of Hu people have become more friendly, and the villagers have slaves to help them, and every household is getting richer."

"My brother decided to expand the Canhe Dock last year, and he is still repairing the dock. If Ji'an didn't need money to buy it..."

Zhang Yang felt that something was wrong with his words, so he changed his tone and said, "Jian doesn't need to worry about money. Now we are opening up border trade, taking cattle and horses from the grasslands in exchange for money and goods from the Central Plains, and our Zhang family will gradually become rich."

"Thank you, father and uncle, for your hard work!"

Zhang Yu asked with concern, "How are father and sister Wei?"

"My brother still has difficulty walking, so he takes care of the affairs in the village while I run around outside!" Zhang Yang smiled and said, "As for Wei'er, she only learned to walk at the beginning of this year."

Zhang Yang and his wife had a boy who died young. Last year, Zhang Yang's wife Liu gave birth to a daughter, named Zhang Wei.

Zhang Yang said, "Brother is worried that Ji'an will be appointed as the county magistrate and there will be no one around to help him, so I sent Bo Dao to the south to help Ji'an. If you need me, I can leave more than ten riders with you."

Zhang Yu looked at Hao Zhao and said with a smile, "It will be fine if Bo Dao stays to help, and more than ten riders can follow uncle back home!"

"good!"

After chatting for a while, Zhang Yang, led by Zhang Yu, went to the palace to visit his relatives. Fearing that he would cause trouble for the palace, Zhang Yang declined Wang Chen's invitation to stay at the palace and left after having only a meal.

Before leaving the house, Zhang Yang, with a wicked smile on his face, secretly stuffed Li Suyi's letter into Zhang Yu's arms.

Late at night, Zhang Yu opened the letter sent by Li Suyi. Although Li Suyi did not mention her longing for him in the letter, her words were full of longing. For example, she talked about the joy of herding sheep and horses together in the past, or talked about the sweet things they did.

After reading it, Zhang Yu also missed the beauty and sighed slightly. If it were not for the preparation for the troubled times in the future, it would be a good thing to work in his hometown. He hoped to meet the beauty as soon as possible and marry Wang Ji as soon as possible.

"Jian, are you asleep?"

Hearing someone knocking on the door, Zhang Yu quickly put away Li Suyi's letter and asked, "Brother, wait a moment!"

After saying that, Zhang Yu stood up, opened the door, and welcomed Wang Chen in.

"Brother, why do you visit me so late at night?" Zhang Yu asked.

Wang Chen took out the letter from his bosom and said with a smile: "Uncle is very happy to know that you have been appointed as the magistrate of Zheng County. I am writing this letter to you as a reminder to Ji An!"

"Thank you for your concern, uncle and brother!" Zhang Yu said with a bow.

Wang Chen sighed and said, "When I was appointed as a palace official, I made some mistakes because of my unruly character, so I was not appreciated by the Minister of the Chancellery and was assigned to work in the Palace. Although Ji'an is still young, he has extraordinary knowledge and is much better than I was at that time!"

Wang Chen thought for a moment and reminded: "Jian is a county magistrate at a young age, which is extraordinary. But if he wants to be promoted from a county magistrate to an official in the capital, in addition to making meritorious contributions, he also needs to find a noble person to promote him."

Zhang Yu had no intention of hiding anything, and said, "Tomorrow I want to pay a visit to Henan Yin Yuan Gonglu. Yuan Shu's reputation may not be as good as Yuan Shao's, but his official position is higher than Yuan Shao's. Moreover, Yuan Shu is not as cunning as Yuan Shao, so it will be easy to get along with him!"

"That's fine!"

Seeing that Zhang Yu was making friends with Yuan Shu for political benefits, Wang Chen had no intention of stopping him and said, "Since Ji'an has made plans, it is not convenient for me to say more. But in my opinion, Yuan Shao is not an ordinary person and Ji'an should not offend him. Sometimes he even needs to interact with him!" "Yes!" Zhang Yu replied.

In fact, the choice to befriend Yuan Shu was out of consideration for the interests in the early and middle stages. Yuan Shao seemed to have a high reputation, but there were too many people gathered around Yuan Shao, forming a closed circle. Even if there were benefits, Zhang Yu would not be able to take part in many things.

But Yuan Shu was different. Yuan Shu's reputation was weaker than Yuan Shao's, but Yuan Shao naturally had rich political resources. Even General He Jin wanted to win over Yuan Shu. Although there were many people around Yuan Shu, they showed enough value, and Yuan Shu would never be stingy with his political resources.

For example, Sun Jian attached himself to Yuan Shu, and was promoted from the prefect of Changsha to the Marquis of Wucheng, and was later recommended by Yuan Shu to be the governor of Yuzhou.

After chatting with Wang Chen for a few words, Wang Chen went back to the house yawning.

After Wang Chen left, Zhang Yu first wrote back to Li Suyi, announcing the good news that he had been appointed as the magistrate of Zheng County. Then he expressed his true feelings and asked Li Suyi to wait and he would return home when he was free.

In response to Li Suyi's inquiry about Li Song, Zhang Yu briefly explained Li Song's situation. Since Li Song led the cavalry to stay with Wang Yun, he was highly appreciated by Wang Yun for his diligence and modesty.

Now the rebellion has broken out again in Runan. Wang Yun is personally leading the army to suppress it, and Li Song is following him with the cavalry.

As for the letter that Wang Yun had someone send, there was nothing new in it. It only reminded Zhang Yu not to feel resentful because he paid money to take office, and not to exploit the people in the county in order to earn back the money he paid. He should govern the people well.

Zhang Yu expressed his determination and assured Wang Yun that he would not do anything illegal.

After writing the two letters, Zhang Yu blew out the lights, went to bed and fell asleep.

The next day, Zhang Yu paid the fee to Xiyuan with the four million coins he had collected. The eunuchs of Xiyuan returned a set of official uniforms and a seal symbolizing the county magistrate, which was an extremely high cost-effectiveness.

On April 26, Zhang Yang stayed in Luoyang for two or three days, then said goodbye to Zhang Yu and prepared to return home via Henei. Zhang Yu went to visit Yuan Shu, but Yuan Shu was busy with official duties and only had time to meet with Zhang Yu.

As the day of taking office approached, Zhang Yu met more often with Dong Zhao, Yuan Mi, Zhong Yao and Sun Zi.

On the day of departure, Zhang Yu bid farewell to Wang Gai and Wang Chen, and took Hao Zhao, Meng Ningzhi and Zhang Feng with him to meet Zhong Yao, Yuan Mi and Dong Zhao on the banks of the Luo River.

The Luo River flows from southwest to northeast and flows into the Yellow River. The river banks are shaded by trees.

Zhang, Zhong, Yuan and Dong each have their own luggage and will go their separate ways now.

Secretary Yuan was reluctant to leave and said, "I will bid you farewell. I don't know when I can see you again after this separation!"

“There will be a chance!”

Zhang Yu pursed his lips and said, "Although I don't know when we can meet again, we will meet again in the future."

Dong Zhao sighed with emotion and said, "I hope to meet you three again in Luoyang. It will be a pleasure to assist you in governing the country together!"

Zhong Yao smiled and said, "I hope that it will be like what Gongren said, and we can work in Luoyang together. During our days off, we can drink and have fun in the market. This would be a fun thing."

Having said that, several people couldn't help but sigh at the same time. Dong Zhao's idea was just a wish. Normally, they would serve in various places all over the world, and even if they served in the court, it was hard to say whether it would last long.

Agricultural society is not like industrial society. Everything moves very slowly. If people want to get together, it is difficult for them to take the initiative to get together unless opportunities arise.

Yuan Mi showed envy and said, "Ji'an and Yuan Chang are close to each other. We can still get together in Chang'an in our spare time, unlike me who is far away in Shanyang County and Gongren who is in Jizhou."

Hearing this, Zhang Yu suddenly felt melancholy and sighed, "I am sad to say goodbye to you, as we are both officials on a journey. A bosom friend is a friend indeed. I hope you will work hard, and we will meet again in the future."

In his previous life, when reading poetry, Zhang Yu had a hard time understanding Wang Bo's poem, and he just memorized it. But now that he is a traveling official, he can really understand the feelings of Wang Bo and his friend. Because of this separation, he doesn't know when he will see them again, and he doesn't know when he will hear from them again.

“There are close friends in the sea, and we are as close as our neighbors in the world!”

After reciting the poem, Yuan Mi couldn't help but laugh and said, "When did Ji An have such talent and could come up with such a sentence!"

"Hmm~"

Secretary Yuan pondered it carefully and asked, "I wonder what the first and last sentences are about?"

Zhang Yu shook his head and smiled, saying, "I don't know who wrote this, I only remember the fragments. Now the scene brought back my feelings and I remembered it by chance. I am using this to bid farewell to you two, and we will surely meet again in the future."

"Thank you, Ji'an!"

"Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

The four men bowed and said goodbye. Zhang Yu and Zhong Yao drove their carriages and horses westward, while Dong Zhao and Yuan Mi crossed the bridge and headed east.

"Jiangzuo Yice": "At first, Emperor Shenwu was a palace official in Luoyang. He always felt that his talent and learning were shallow, so he made friends with Yuan Mi. But Mi felt that Emperor Shenwu had saved him, so he became friends with him."

(End of this chapter)