It was quite hot in Qingfu County at the end of June. In order to avoid the noon sun, Han Qiaoer hid in the house until evening before going to play in the yard every day.
She was not so squeamish before, but life is different now.
"Let's go next door to eat bamboo."
The little bamboo bear yawned, but he was obedient, turned over, and finally got up and followed Han Qiaoer lazily.
Going around the long corridor in front of the yamen, you can see the busyness of the public buildings. Han Qiao'er was used to it, and she took the slow bamboo bear around to the door of Fang Yankai's courtyard.
"Dong dong dong."
"Is Grandma Fang here? Our little bamboo seedlings have been ruined by it, and they are here to eat yours today."
Soon, the courtyard door was opened.
There were not many servants in Fang Yankai's house, and the ones in charge were an old couple of the same race brought from his hometown. Fang's mother-in-law opened the door, with a smile on her wrinkled face.
"Sister, are you here? Mr. Han and Alang are talking in the yard."
"Hey, the chief secretary actually has some free time today." Han Qiaoer picked up the small basket in his hand and said, "This is the ice cream I brought for you. Eat it quickly, it will melt in a while."
"Then I will prepare some pastries and deliver them to the courtyard later. Sister, please go to the courtyard first."
The little bamboo bear over there couldn't wait to crawl in the direction of the bamboo garden, so Han Qiaoer had no choice but to catch up.
In the pavilion, Fang Yankai and Han Chengxu were sitting opposite each other, each holding herbal tea and drinking it.
Seeing the little bamboo bear coming, Fang Yankai shook his head and said to Han Qiaoer: "Don't let it play with my newly planted lychees. I've already cut the edible ones."
"Hmm, the bookkeeper's bamboo grows well."
Han Chengxu turned around and said with a smile: "I forgot to tell you girl that it's time to call me 'Fang Magistrate'. Don't lose your etiquette."
Han Qiaoer hurriedly ran to the pavilion, said a thousand blessings, and called out: "Congratulations to Fang Magistrate on your promotion. May your career be prosperous. May you be blessed and noble."
"With Qiaoer's lucky words, let's go play."
Fang Yankai smiled and looked at the chubby body of the little bamboo bear for a while. Then he suddenly sighed and asked Han Chengxu, "Are you ready to leave soon?"
"The belongings haven't been picked up yet, but they have been in the past few days." Han Chengxu patted his knees and sighed: "I only renovated the courtyard last year, so I feel a little reluctant to part with it."
Li Xia moved to "quanzhijunlianzhou affairs". Although he had not returned, he had sent his official seal and asked Han Chengxu to take measures first.
Now, Li Yong has rushed to Junlian to make arrangements, and soon Gao Mingyue and Han Chengxu will also go there.
It is by no means a normal procedure for staff and family members to take office, but now that the war is going on, we can only do special things.
"If I hadn't known that Li Zhizhou deliberately sought this official position, I would have thought that he was promoted or demoted secretly. In the past, the leaders of the Miao, Yi, and Bo people in Junlianjizhou were hereditary native officials, and they submitted to them in name only."
At this point, Fang Yankai shook his head and said: "Since the Yuanfeng period, officials from Zhongzhou have been appointed, but they have no real power. The people's livelihood and military matters in Junlian are still in the hands of local officials."
"Simply put, rule without governing."
"Yes, rule without rule." Fang Yankai said: "Just like Wu Tong, who was patrolling at that time, he was a hereditary native official and had always refused to obey the rules. Otherwise, why would the Changning Army choose to stay in Lingxiao City instead of being close to others?"
Han Chengxu said: "What Changning's army couldn't do, my Alang did it, and Wu Tong was wiped out."
Fang Yankai nodded and said: "If Li Zhizhou goes to Junlian in person, he will manage it properly, and he can even change the Jisu land to a naturalized land. But since he has not returned, why are you waiting in a hurry?"
"The situation is urgent and there is no time to slow down." Han Chengxu said, "What's more, when it comes to the management of the Miao, Yi, and Bo tribes in Jisi, the mistress is more suitable than Alang."
"Yeah?"
Fang Yankai obviously didn't believe it.
Li Xia's wife Gao rarely came forward to do anything, and gave the impression that she was just a weak little girl. How could she take care of the affairs of the barbarians in the mountains on Li Xia's behalf?
"It's okay to speak frankly with Fangzhi County." Han Chengxu said: "The mistress's life experience... Her ancestors allied with the thirty-seven tribes in eastern Yunnan and were the leaders of the Yi tribes; they merged with the Western Erhe barbarians, Bo people, and Ai people.
Lao people, white barbarians from Xicuan, Han people from Dianchi Lake, are the leaders of the Bai tribe."
Fang Yankai was stunned and said in surprise: "It's not the Gao family of Nanjun, but the Gao family of Dali?"
"Yes, the Gao family has been in charge of the Dali Kingdom for a hundred and fifty years, and the mistress has her own means to naturalize the small Junlianjisi land." Han Chengxu said: "And in the name of Alang, the official of the court, he also has military power, money and food."
Fang Yankai nodded and no longer worried about this matter.
"Qingfu Army..."
"Of course I want to take them away." Han Chengxu said: "In this way, Fangzhi County no longer has to worry about military pay. As for the camp, let it be used to resettle refugees."
Now half of Qingfu's army was taken away by Li Xia, and Liu Jinsuo, Yang Ben, Song He, Yu Tian, Xu Kui and Mao Yi'er all went with the army.
Gao Nianfeng led people to reinforce Xuzhou;
Wu Ang and Hu Hu followed Yang Guo southward to Zhaotong;
In Qingfu County, only Bao San and Xiong Shan are in charge, with only more than 500 troops.
Once the situation between the north and the south is opened up, Qingfu County is located at the center of Li Xia's power, and there is no need for too many troops as long as it can maintain law and order.
Li Xia went north in person, and Han Chengxu naturally wanted to transfer the remaining troops south to create a situation of strength on the outside and weakness on the inside.
In today's conversation, Fang Yankai could already hear the difference in the situation.
Li Xia's ambition has never been in Qingfu, a small county.
It's ridiculous, but he still fought with him for the power of county captain.
But now that Li Xia was transferred, the official position of a county magistrate was easily lost.
…
When the sun went down, the Han family's grandparents and grandchildren said goodbye to him and walked slowly along the path with the little bamboo bear.
"Fangzhi County, we are leaving." Han Qiaoer raised his hand and waved.
Fang Yankai smiled, stood up, picked up the flower hoe, and tidied the bamboo garden himself.
"It's such a mess." He shook his head and re-inserted the bamboo that had been pulled into the ground by the little bamboo bear.
Suddenly I felt the reluctance before leaving.
He originally looked down on the northerners and the southwestern barbarians... he didn't expect to have such sentiments.
With Fang Yankai's intelligence, he could vaguely sense that Li Xia was gradually forming a separatist trend.
Starting from Qingfu County, his power is rapidly expanding to the north and south. He does not have the name of Tongchuanfu Road as the pacifier, but he actually has...
But the word "separate regime" came to mind again, and Fang Yankai shook his head again.
"That's absolutely not the case. His ambition is Shu Commandery. Otherwise, how could I be left in charge of Qingfu?"
If we really want to separate the regime, Qingfu County, the central place with the largest population and the most stable people's livelihood, must have people who can leave a letter.
Thinking like this, Fang Yankai felt at ease again.
Either because the young magistrate's vision is too low, or because he deceives himself and others, who can know?
~~
Over there, Han Qiaoer and Han Chengxu returned to the courtyard.
Han Qiaoer teased the little bamboo bear with the bamboo to encourage it to move. At the same time, she asked: "Grandpa, I heard you talking to Fang Zhixian... Why did Brother Li leave Qingfu County to him?"
"He is an official of the imperial court. Who else can be retained if not him?"
"Then do we have to give him our house? Can he still give taxes and soldiers to Brother Li?"
These two questions, one is naive and stingy, the other is realistic. But in Han Qiaoer's eyes, they seem to be equally important, so she asked them naturally.
"Now that Xuzhou is in our hands, can Qingfu County's taxes and soldiers still be able to escape?"
"Will Fangzhi County file a lawsuit against Brother Li?"
"No, he knows who recruited his official position."
"Okay." Han Qiaoer said: "But I really can't bear to leave this house. It's hard to find a place to stay..."
Han Chengxu smiled.
He has been wandering for half his life, but this time he went to Junlian, but he didn't feel like he was wandering.
"Don't be reluctant, I believe we will go to Chengdu with Alang soon."
Han Qiaoer's eyes lit up and she immediately became yearning for it.
…
"Sister Gao, my grandfather said that Brother Li will be able to take us to Chengdu soon."
It was night, Han Qiaoer ran to the side hall and saw Gao Mingyue still talking to Asha.
"Yes, I know, but before we go to Chengdu, we have to take care of Junlian's affairs for him." Gao Mingyue agreed, turning to look at Asha Yu again.
"Auntie said, right?"
Asha looked a little helpless.
Years ago, Li Xia had been planning to ask her to help conquer the old seedlings in the mountains in the south.
Asha Yao did not object to this, but what she objected to was that Li Xia had come up with various regulations.
For example, they were provided with farm tools and cattle to teach them how to farm; they were exempted from grain for several years and paid a percentage of the harvest; they also set up volunteer schools and so on...
This is very different from Asha's imagination.
She originally thought that she took Pluto to various old villages to ask for witchcraft... In short, it was full of mysterious atmosphere.
As a Miao witch, he instinctively hated those regulations. Therefore, when Li Xia was around, Asha had been avoiding him.
Gao Mingyue is different from Li Xia.
She knew very well how the Gao family, Miao people, Yi people, and Bo people, who were born in the "Miaoxiang Kingdom" in Dali, believed in ghosts and gods.
Recently, she has persuaded Asha to help conquer several old Miao villages in Qingfu.
Not by order of the Song Dynasty court, but in the name of Li Xia.
Even, whenever this matter is mentioned, Asha is already a little excited...
"yes."
When she heard Gao Mingyue's question, she nodded in agreement, not wanting to say another word.
"We will make all the Miao people in Gurong land obey Hades."
"Thank you for your hard work, auntie."
What Gao Mingyue can do for Li Xia is to follow the example of the thirty-seven tribes of the Ancestral Alliance and let each tribe in Junlian land have a common leader.
Recently, she has gradually gained some momentum as a mistress. She put her hands on her knees and said, "Although the new official has not yet taken office, Junlian will definitely be managed well."
…
Han Qiaoer stood aside and listened, a little confused, but she only knew that she wanted people to convince her brother Li.
A few days ago, she heard Gao Mingyue say to Han Chengxu, "I will do my best to persuade the tribes that I can, but if any leader, cave owner, or village owner refuses to accept, I will send out troops to eliminate them."
Han Qiaoer felt a little majestic at that time.
"Sister Gao is so amazing, no wonder she can be a real wife." She couldn't help but think to herself, "I can't do this."
I don’t know whether the Junlian tribes are convinced by Li Xia, but she is convinced by Gao Mingyue anyway... Well, in fact, she always has been.
"I said that Brother Li got promoted but went to Chengdu. It turns out that this Junlian magistrate is Sister Gao."
When Gao Mingyue heard Han Qiaoer's compliment, she was a little surprised, funny and satisfied at the same time.
In front of those close to her, she was quite childish, so she put on an official air and said: "Then you, little girl, why don't you pay homage to this magistrate..."
Halfway through her words, she couldn't hold back and smiled again.
This time, Asha not only felt that the mysterious aura of Pluto had been destroyed, but also the Miaoxiang Dharma was no longer so solemn...