Water Margin official

Chapter 133: Magistrate Shouzhang’s face changes quickly

When we returned to Qinghe County, it was already approaching dusk. The weather in May of the second year of Zhenghe was neither hot nor cold. Zhang Zhengdao urged his horse to drive slowly. If he met an acquaintance, he would nod frequently.

As the richest man in Qinghe County, and also the inspector of the village, Zhang Zhengdao is affable, has no airs, and is relatively low-key. He does not have a personal entourage.

"High official, I haven't seen you for a few days, and you are getting more and more impressive." A woman carrying a flower box stopped Zhang Zhengdao's white horse and shouted.

When I looked up, it was Mrs. Xue.

The woman was all smiles. Ever since she helped talk about Sister Meng’s matter, Zhang Zhengdao was not stingy and rewarded her with many benefits.

"Sister-in-law Xue, are you selling flowers?" Zhang Zhengdao reined in his horse and asked with a smile.

Sister-in-law Xue said: "Official, how come I don't see you carrying the eldest lady into the house?"

"I'm not telling you, but if the officials don't be more impatient, the lady's heart will be cold once the heat has passed." After Mrs.

The bright red wild flowers came and were handed to Zhang Zhengdao.

"The official took this flower and sent it to the eldest lady." Sister-in-law Xue pointed the way: "She is busy in the shop on Xinshi Street."

Zhang Zhengdao took the flower and thought to himself, Sister Xue was right. If she ignored Third Sister Meng, wouldn't her work be in vain?

"Sister-in-law Xue, this is my negligence. Then I will go find the eldest lady first." Zhang Zhengdao put his horse under his belly and rushed to the tailor shop.

When he got outside the door, he tied up his horse and stepped into the inner room. The clerk naturally recognized Zhang Daguan from Qinghe County and hurriedly stepped forward to sing.

"Official, what kind of clothes do you want to buy?" the shop assistant asked respectfully.

Zhang Zhengdao looked around and saw all kinds of clothes. Thinking of the women at home, he pointed to some brightly colored clothes and said: "There are thirty pieces of all kinds of clothes, fifteen of which are sent to Wang Zhaoxuan's Mansion.

The other fifteen pieces will be sent to the Zhang family, and the money will be settled at the Lion Tower."

"Wait, here are fifteen more items. Send them to the Lion Tower and give them to Zhang Liu to send to the two inner courtyards." Zhang Zhengdao remembered that he had never bought anything for these women, so he bought more together.

Some are stained by rain and dew.

Seeing that Zhang Zhengdao bought so many clothes in one go, the store clerk bent down and smiled and said: "Officials, don't worry, I will check it out now and deliver it to each house early tomorrow morning."

Zhang Zhengdao nodded and said, "Where is your eldest lady?"

The shop assistant pointed to the inner room and said: "I'm busy in the house."

Zhang Zhengdao ignored the waiter, opened the door curtain, and saw Sister Meng playing with the abacus, lowering her head to record something.

Zhang Zhengdao didn't say anything, he just walked in and handed the red flower to her.

Third Sister Meng was startled by the sudden appearance of wild flowers. She was startled. Then she looked up and saw that it was Zhang Zhengdao. She patted her tall chest and said, "My lord, I scared the slave family to death."

Zhang Zhengdao smiled and said: "Give it to Third Sister."

Third Sister Meng looked down at the little red flower again, took it, pinched off the root branch, pinned the flower in her bun, and asked: "Master, how come you have time to come to this shop of Nu's house?"

”

Zhang Zhengdao sat in an empty seat aside, looked at this beautiful woman and said: "It's my fault for neglecting my lady."

Third Sister Meng got up and called the maid to prepare a cup of fragrant tea for the senior officials to eat.

Third Sister Meng said: "The slave family has not yet congratulated the officials for inspecting the village."

Zhang Zhengdao replied: "I have been busy with things lately, but I have delayed my lady's affairs. Please forgive me."

Third Sister Meng smiled and said, "I know officials are busy with their affairs."

"In the past few days, the number of beggars in the city has increased, and the burden on the officials is not light." Third Sister Meng took the fragrant tea brought by the maid and handed it to Zhang Zhengdao herself.

"Yes, the number of displaced people is increasing day by day, and I'm afraid there are also more and more bandits in the countryside." Zhang Zhengdao sighed, and then realized what he was doing with Sister Meng.

"Madam, when is it convenient for you to come into my house?" Zhang Zhengdao asked.

Third Sister Meng said: "The second day of next month is an auspicious day."

Zhang Zhengdao took a gulp of the fragrant tea, thought for a moment and said, "Then it's settled."

After saying that, he stood up and prepared to leave.

But Third Sister Meng stopped him, took off a gold-headed lotus petal hairpin from her head, and said, "This hairpin is for the officials."

Zhang Zhengdao took the hairpin and took a closer look. He saw two characters engraved on it: "Golden horse neighs in the grassland, and the people in Yulou are drunk in the apricot flower sky."

"This hairpin has been carried by my family for many years. I give it to the officials today so that I can know my family's thoughts." Third Sister Meng said.

Zhang Zhengdao took her hand and said, "I already know your lady's thoughts."

Third Sister Meng sent him to the door and watched the official go away. Then she returned to the room and continued to work.

But Zhang Zhengdao returned home to rest for a night, and the next day he came to the patrol village again, summoned Wu Kai, and asked about the ten selected personal guards.

Wu Kai said: "We have already carefully selected them, and they are all brave warriors in the village."

Called all ten people over and introduced them one by one.

Zhang Zhengdao was quite satisfied when he saw that these men were all tall and majestic, and asked them to demonstrate the art of bow and horse.

"After the second brother bought the horses, the eldest brother followed me to Shouzhang County and took over the hundreds of soldiers there." Zhang Zhengdao said.

Wu Kai asked: "Sister-in-law, have you thought about how to deal with those soldiers?"

Zhang Zhengdao smiled and said: "If there is no other candidate, please ask the eldest brother to temporarily station there and command the troops."

Wu Kai's mood was a little up and down. Although he was far away from home, being able to command a hundred soldiers was considered a step forward.

In the afternoon, Wu Borang drove some twenty horses back to the village.

The Song Dynasty was short of horses, but what they lacked were northern war horses. Therefore, they often purchased slow-moving southwestern horses from Dali and other southwestern tribes to serve as mounts.

Zhang Zhengdao took Wu Kai and the ten guards, and after arranging their weapons and horses, while it was still dark, a group of twelve people headed to Manan and headed straight for Shouzhang County.

After more than thirty miles of journey, we arrived in a blink of an eye. When we entered the city, the city gate was not yet closed.

After finding the Shouzhang county government office, Zhang Zhengdao got off his horse, straightened his robes, and entered the county government office to find the Shouzhang county magistrate.

Seeing that Zhang Zhengdao was so impressive and had more than a dozen military men accompanying him, the yamen officials did not dare to underestimate him and hurried to the yamen to report to the county magistrate.

After standing in the hall and waiting for a long time, Zhang Zhengdao became a little impatient, and then Magistrate Zhang came out in a hurry.

"Are you the new inspector Zhang Zhengdao?" The county magistrate is about forty years old. His face is a bit haggard and he lacks confidence in speaking, but he is very polite.

Zhang Zhengdao raised his eyebrows and replied: "I'm a lower official."

The county magistrate slapped the table and shouted: "Since you have taken over the post of inspection in this county, why have you been so late in taking up the post? As a result, bandits are everywhere in the countryside of this county. How are you going to deal with it?"

Hmm?

It seems that this magistrate Zhang has a lot of opinions about him, Zhang Zhengdao murmured in his heart.

"In Shouzhang County, bandits are everywhere, which shows the county magistrate's method of governing the place, haha..." Zhang Zhengdao did not say it clearly, but the meaning on his face was clear, that is: you are very incompetent.

"If the high officials in the court find out about it, the county magistrate, the county magistrate, will probably..." Zhang Zhengdao said slowly.

Magistrate Shouzhang's expression changed, and then he smiled and said, "Haha," he said, "My dear brother must have been tired all the way, so why not go to the back office and have some thin wine, and you and I, two brothers, can chat while eating?"
Zhang Zhengdao saw that he had a completely opposite attitude for a while. He was not weak at changing his face. He didn't know what the magistrate meant, so he said: "Since my husband has an order, I should obey it."

"Please." Magistrate Zhang Zhang politely invited Zhang Zhengdao to come to the back office and put a table of wine and food on the table. Only then did he tell the truth with a sad face.