Chapter 426: Difficulty in Officialdom
When the chief clerk of the army, Yang Fu, left his post, all the secretaries in Huangge became excited instinctively.

After a farewell banquet was held for Yang Fu, Yang Xiu returned to his residence with a smile on his face amid everyone's compliments.

But after everyone left, the smile on Yang Xiu's face disappeared.

They all thought he had the greatest chance of taking over, but Yang Xiu felt he had the lowest chance.

He had served as Cao Cao's chief clerk, and he was a direct descendant of the Hongnong Yang family. These two reasons were two huge obstacles that were difficult to overcome.

He was not in a depressed mood. Yang Xiu took off his mourning clothes. Up to now, he had been wearing mourning clothes while following the army for the sake of revenge.

Just as he was about to take off his sword and put it on the sword rack on the wall, he heard the footsteps of the guards.

The guards' footsteps were very clear. Their patent leather shoes had iron nails on the soles to reinforce the soles of the shoes, making the sound difficult to conceal when they walked.

Although these iron nails make the leather shoes heavier, the guards' daily duty range is limited and they always ride horses when going out, so this physical loss is not worth mentioning.

Yang Xiu took the initiative to come to the door, and saw two guards walking side by side. The one in charge bowed and said, "Secretary Yang, someone from an important place is visiting. Here is the visiting card."

"Oh, I see."

Yang Xiu was not surprised, as many Guanzhong scholars who had fled to Yizhou to avoid the chaos had visited him during this period.

Even if he doesn't have time to meet you, you should accept the business card, give a rough appointment time, and then make time to get together and meet.

He thought it was just an ordinary person, but when he picked up the name card and saw it was Su Ze, he immediately said, "Wait a minute while I change my clothes, I will go and see him in person."

The two guards simply bowed together, stepped back and waited.

Yang Xiu returned to the house, took the coarse linen mourning clothes from the hanger and put them on, then took his sword and hung it up, raised his hand to adjust the white gauze Jinxian crown on his head, and then nodded to the two guards.

Guards have their own duty regulations and are strictly prohibited from walking alone.

Even when walking, two people should walk side by side to monitor each other and enhance the vigilance effect.

If they walk in a column, often only the first person will be alert, but the people behind will blindly follow and inevitably become complacent and careless.

Soon, under the protection of the two guards, Yang Xiu received Su Ze in a military market outside the mansion.

The military market was formed by the spontaneous gathering of nearby civilians and mountain people. Once it became a little big, Black Bear sent people to manage it.

The area was divided into areas, bamboo fences were built, and people were sent to maintain order.

Even if the vendors in the military market are temporary, they have to pay a minimum stall fee of five baht.

Since the extra auxiliary soldiers were idle anyway, they simply transferred more than a thousand auxiliary soldiers to build houses and lay the foundation for the long-term operation of the military city in the future.

Therefore, Su Ze was received in a bamboo hut with two rows of compartments, which shared a long and narrow kang.

This kang is built with stone slabs, and the middle surface is made of pieces of bluestone spliced ​​together.

Bamboo mats are laid on the bluestone slabs, and the texture of the bluestone slabs can be seen through the gaps.

Su Ze felt his butt warm when he sat on it, and he immediately guessed that this kang was made of more than one layer of bluestone slabs. If there was only one layer, it would be too hot to sit on.

It should be multiple layers with soil layers in between.

Seeing Su Ze's expression, Yang Xiu said, "Northern soldiers cannot stand the damp and cold weather in Shu, so the heated kangs are very popular. If this tavern didn't have this heated kang, it wouldn't attract any business." Su Ze nodded, and then said, "The Grand Marshal has abandoned Mianzhu and stationed in Jianshan Pavilion in the north. Is he interested in repairing the Shu Road? The Shu Road is difficult, and I'm afraid the people can't support it."

Yang Xiu explained: "There is a desire to repair the Shu Road for two reasons. First, the troops are tired of training, and taking turns to go out of the camp to dig the stone wall can relieve boredom; second, there are also disaster victims, refugees and prisoners in Shu who have no land. Gathering them here can also turn bad things into good things."

Su Ze's eyes widened when he heard the first reason: "Opening mountains and building roads is the most difficult thing. How can it relieve boredom? After experiencing such hardships, I will yearn for camp training."

"Your Majesty has spoken in this way, and I think your words are reasonable."

Yang Xiu explained with a smile, picked up the tea bowl and blew on it, then said with emotion: "This is truly a land of abundance. First there was Shujin, and now tea is becoming more and more expensive everywhere. Shuzhong is also suitable for making tea. It must be a strong rival for Jingzhou."

Su Ze also took a sip of tea and said, "I heard from passers-by that Huangge Chief Clerk Yang Yishan will be appointed as the governor of Ba County. Who does Dezuo think is suitable to take over?"

Yang Xiu sat up straight after hearing this: "From what I have seen, there are two people who are highly valued by the emperor. One is Fa Zheng from Fufeng, who fled to Shu to avoid the rebellion of Li Jue and Guo Si. He once lived with Liu Yan and his son, but was not given a high position. On the contrary, his good friend Meng Da welcomed the emperor to Shu and appointed him as the commander of Dongzhou, in charge of the seven battalions of Dongzhou's elite troops."

"There is another person who is a branch of the Jiangxia Huang family. In his early years, his father fled to Langzhong, Ba County to avoid the Party Imprisonment. Because Liu Yan and his son were related to the Huang family, the county selected him as a county official. Later, when Liu Zhang became king, he recruited this person as a counselor. This is Huang Quan Huang Gongheng. In my opinion, he also has military strategies. Compared with Fa Zheng, he is more upright and solemn, which matches the temperament of the monarch."

Yang Xiu sighed as he spoke: "But he is a descendant of the Jiangxia Huang family and is related to Liu Zhang."

"Dezu actually thinks so highly of this person?"

As soon as Su Ze heard Yang Xiu's introduction, he wanted to meet Huang Quan, and he did not hide the fact that "I lived in seclusion in Taibai Mountain in the early days, and I was unaware of the changes in the situation, so I missed a good opportunity. Now I want to enter the government, and I wanted to meet Yang Yishan, but I didn't expect that this person was difficult to meet. If it was Huang Quan, maybe he could persuade him to speak well of me."

Not everyone can see the Grand Marshal.

The road is there, and if you wait on the road... there is a high probability that you will be expelled by the forward knights, or even tied up and thrown far away.

If the locals knew that the Grand Marshal was coming, and you tried to intercept him on the road, your fate would probably be even more miserable.

If you want to meet the Grand Marshal, you need a recommendation from an important figure.

Recommendation is not something that can be done by just opening your mouth. It will be recorded and you will be punished in the future.

As for Fa Zheng... after Yang Xiu's introduction, Su Ze gave up the idea of ​​meeting this young fellow.

To be honest, he had never heard of a person named Fa Zheng.

He had heard of the Fa family, which was the descendant of the Tian Qi family. However, Fa Zheng, one of the younger generations, was not even employed by Liu Yan and Liu Zhang, which showed that he was either mediocre in virtue and talent, or had obvious shortcomings that were difficult to conceal.

He would rather take the risk and invite Huang Quan than waste time and favors with Fa Zheng.

Besides, given the current situation, with Yang Fu from Longyou coming down and Fa Zheng from Guanzhong taking over...what do the people of Yizhou think?
Fa Zheng was a member of the Dongzhou scholars, but he was not familiar with the Yizhou scholars.

Huang Quan’s previous generation moved to Yizhou, so he was a descendant of a famous family and had a lineage to follow.

He was also related to Liu Zhang, worked in the core area of ​​Chengdu, and his in-laws' network spread throughout the Bashu area.

If such a person has some talent and decent moral character, it would be inevitable for him to succeed Yang Fu.

From the very beginning, Su Ze never expected Yang Xiu to recommend him. He was well aware of how strong the suppression of the big families was by the higher-ups.

The Su family is almost being disbanded. If he doesn't take up official posts, if there is any further disturbance, the Su family might be dismantled to strengthen the border counties.

(End of this chapter)