The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

"Be patient!" Zhang Ping'an waved his hand and asked people to sit down.

People who pace back and forth like this are even more annoying!

Hua Wanli poured a cup of herbal tea and handed it to him, saying soothingly: "When your heart is calm, you will naturally feel cooler. Drink a cup of herbal tea to cool down your internal heat!"

"Fuck it, if you calm down you'll feel better, but I can't," Admiral Zhou cursed, but he still took the tea and drank it in one gulp.

The pavilion chief stepped forward cautiously and asked, "Gentlemen, it's noon. Would you like to set up the meal?"

"Instead of serving food, give us some snacks and sweet soup to satisfy our hunger," Zhang Ping'an said after thinking for a moment.

There's nothing wrong with eating some snacks and sweet soup, but if they have a meal and the imperial envoys arrive while they are eating, it will look inappropriate and seem too perfunctory!

In this way, all the officials and yamen runners just ate some rough snacks to fill their stomachs and continued to wait.

They waited until dusk, well after the afternoon, and everyone was getting tired of waiting.

Suddenly, Chen Jianqiu pointed to the end of the road in the distance and said, "Look, are the imperial envoys coming?"

Everyone quickly straightened their clothes and looked into the distance: "It really is, it looks like it!"

After saying that, everyone stood in order according to the size of their official position and rank, waiting for the imperial envoys to come.

There were about eighty or ninety imperial envoys in the distance. The five leaders were all wearing third-rank official uniforms. Most of the followers following behind them were dressed in formal attire, and each of them had a fine horse. It was obvious at a glance that they were of noble origin.

When the others got closer, Zhang Ping'an discovered that there were two people among them whom he was familiar with. One was Lord Zhou, and the other was an uncle from the Qian family. He was a cousin of Minister Qian, and Zhang Ping'an had visited them during the New Year and other holidays.

I really didn't expect that Lord Zhou would be one of the imperial envoys and personally participate in the southern tour, which is of great significance.

After all, Lord Zhou still holds the title of military general in public.

Since the founding of the Great Xia Dynasty, there has been basically no example of military generals participating in inspections of government affairs across the country, unless they are traveling as guards for the emperor, which makes sense.

There is no one like Mr. Zhou now!

The signals released are thought-provoking.

"We respectfully welcome the imperial envoys to Ci County. We are deeply honored," Zhang Ping'an and Lieutenant General Zhou kowtowed along with other officials.

"Everyone, please stand up!" Lord Zhou said in a deep voice.

It is obvious that this imperial envoy team is led by Lord Zhou, and Lord Zhou has more say than the others.

Zhang Ping'an was actually a little confused. He remembered that when he had just passed the imperial examination, his father-in-law, Minister Qian, was very opposed to him having any dealings with Lord Zhou, and he even disdained to have anything to do with the eunuch party. Minister Qian's attitude actually reflected the political attitude of the Qian family.

In just less than a year, the Qian family was able to join Lord Zhou on a southern tour as imperial envoys. This is a huge change.

Zhang Ping'an felt that something must have happened in the court that he didn't know about, which changed the previous situation, and this change was not good for the aristocratic families.

However, the most important thing at the moment was to welcome the imperial envoys. Zhang Ping'an didn't think too much about it and went to the post station with the imperial envoys' team together with his subordinates.

Starting from entering the city from the north gate, colorful tents decorated with red silk have been set up along the streets in advance. Yamen runners are maintaining order on both sides of the street, and the atmosphere is full of ceremony.

Zhang Ping'an saw the uncle from the Qian family stroking his beard and nodded with satisfaction.

So many people wearing official uniforms and riding tall horses into the city were very eye-catching.

Many people along the street were looking around. After asking the yamen runners, they learned that it was the imperial envoys who came to inspect, and among them was General Zhou, the storyteller in the teahouse before. They were immediately excited.

He called out to Lord Zhou, "General Zhou is a great hero!"

Cheers and praises rang out one after another.

Lord Zhou just bowed to the people around him without showing any expression on his face. The other imperial envoys' faces turned pale after hearing this.

Zhang Ping'an had no choice. He couldn't stop the people from speaking, and they didn't say anything bad anyway.

After arriving at the posthouse, Zhang Ping'an and others had to wait for the imperial envoys to wash and change their clothes before going to the restaurant for a welcoming banquet.

There were originally many items prepared for this banquet, but it was actually much simpler than Zhang Ping'an had imagined. After the meal, Lord Zhou took the lead and returned to the inn. Seeing this, the other imperial envoys naturally felt it was not appropriate to stay any longer.

So the welcoming banquet ended after the meal.

Lieutenant General Zhou was originally a direct subordinate of Lord Zhou, so he naturally followed Lord Zhou back to the posthouse. He probably had to report some official business.

Hua Wanli and Chen Jianqiu took Zhang Pingan's car back to the county government office together, as they were going the same way.

"Lord Zhou is very popular among the people," said Chen Jianqiu.

"Yes, it's a good thing and not a good thing," Hua Wanli answered in a cryptic way.

However, Zhang Pingan understood and continued, "I think Mr. Zhou is very steady in his response."

"Indeed, Lord Zhou is quite capable. He has broken many court conventions," Hua Wanli thought for a moment and nodded.

"Yes," Zhang Pingan replied calmly, and couldn't help looking out the window. Maybe he was from the same hometown as him!

A night passed and the next day came in a blink of an eye.

The first place the imperial envoys inspected was the 20,000-strong navy, which had been equipped and trained with great effort. This part of the affairs was mainly handled by Lieutenant General Zhou, accompanied by Zhang Ping'an.

Although Lieutenant General Zhou usually looks careless and has a rough temperament, he is actually meticulous and good at leading troops. Otherwise, Lord Zhou would not have let him come to Ci County to take charge on his own.

When everyone was inspecting, Zhang Pingan frankly felt that this navy already had some of the qualities of an elite force, and all it lacked was time to hone it.

In particular, the vanguard battalion, equipped with firearms and improved bows and crossbows, had amazing combat power.

Lord Zhou didn't show any expression on his face, but the other imperial envoys were obviously surprised. Although they didn't say anything, they all had their own thoughts.

After inspecting the navy, the next stop was the salt fields and shipyards.

These two things are what Zhang Ping'an has always been focusing on. He has done much better than the previous County Magistrate Lu. There is nothing to complain about.

The inspection went smoothly and we were not caught with anything, so today's trip is almost over.

Finally, at 3 p.m., as they were about to return to the county government office, Lord Zhou suddenly spoke up, "I heard Lord Zhang has been insisting on building experimental plots to increase grain yields per mu, and they've already achieved some success. Why don't you take us with you to see it? If it really works, this method should be promoted to benefit the people!"

Zhang Pingan was stunned for a second after hearing this, then he bowed and said, "As you command!"