Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

Wanyan Ping then ordered his men to bring over several bottles of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) brought from Tangyin County. As soon as the bottles were opened, the unique, mellow aroma of Erguotou immediately caught the attention of Wanyan Liang, the Prince of Zhennan.

"Ping'er, what kind of fine wine is this? Why does it taste so peculiar?"

As he spoke, Wanyan Liang poured himself a cup, and without any food or drink, he drank it all in one gulp.

"Hahaha...Good wine! The taste is excellent too. Who brewed this?"

Seeing that his father liked it, Wanyan Ping said with a happy face, "This wine comes from the Yi Jiangnan Restaurant in Tangyin City. The owner is Li Zhen, the chief of Lijiazhai, who assisted the Tangyin County Magistrate in pacifying the refugees. Locals say he is charitable and generous, providing land and grain to help the poor people in the surrounding area. However, I heard that his family background is the Li family from Jiangling in the south. They came to our northern region to do grain business. Recently, the most famous COFCO Oils in Daming Prefecture is also his business."

Wanyan Liang poured himself another cup of wine, twirling it in his hand: "Merchants? They're nothing but profit-seekers. But since you think highly of this Li Zhen, why not give him a chance as a county magistrate? Aren't we short of grain? Go find this Li Zhen and see how much you can buy from him."

Looking at his wine cup, Wanyan Liang said, "Remember to buy more fine wine from him and present it to your emperor uncle later."

Speaking of his elder brother, the emperor, Wanyan Liang felt a headache coming on. The once powerful and ever-growing Jin Dynasty had gradually declined under his brother's rule. Since the successive conquests of the Liao and Northern Song Dynasties, the current Jin emperor had indulged in nightly banquets and revelry, and his incompetent officials constantly sought out beautiful women to present to him, causing the Jin emperor's health to deteriorate day by day.

The promotion order arrived quickly, and Zhang Cheng was overjoyed as he held the letter of appointment. He never expected that he would turn misfortune into fortune, surviving the peasant uprising and then being promoted to prefect. It's worth noting that some people never manage to climb the ladder from county magistrate to prefect in their entire lives, yet he had succeeded.

Looking at the other letter of appointment for Li Zhen, Zhang Cheng immediately dispatched his most capable yamen runner to inform Li Zhen. Zhang Cheng knew to some extent why he had been promoted to prefect. After he left Tangyin, Li Zhen becoming the county magistrate here was the best choice. At least when he encountered difficulties, Li Zhen wouldn't abandon him.

Li Zhen, who was directing the basic construction work in the mountain stronghold, was stunned when he heard the news: What? I'm to be the magistrate of Tangyin County? What's going on?

Despite his disbelief, Li Zhen drove his light truck to Tangyin City. The soldiers guarding the city immediately opened the gates and let him through as soon as they saw the truck.

An inspection? Are you kidding me? This is my future superior.

Upon seeing Li Zhen arrive, Zhang Cheng immediately jogged out to greet him: "Hahaha... Brother Li, thanks to you, I've been promoted to prefect. And you've been appointed magistrate of Tangyin County. This is truly a double celebration!"

Li Zhen said somewhat reluctantly, "I'm happy that you're the prefect, but why make me the magistrate here?"

Zhang Cheng was a little stunned when he heard this. Everyone else spends money to buy connections to become an official, but you are so arrogant that you don't even want the official position that is offered to you?

"Well, Brother Li, I have to say something to you about this. They say that if you learn both literary and martial arts, you can serve the emperor. You are also very familiar with this Tangyin City. Wouldn't it be best for you to be the magistrate here? With your businesses, such as Yi Jiangnan and COFCO Oils, plus other businesses in the future, you can do whatever you want with them."

Li Zhen: "But this golden statue..."

Zhang Cheng immediately understood what Li Zhen meant, and he quickly covered Li Zhen's mouth.

“There are some things that you and I, brothers, can only say. You must not say them outside. Do you care whether they are Jurchens or Song people? In any case, we are all being controlled by someone. It doesn’t matter who we follow. Haven’t you seen that the Duke Yansheng of the Confucius Family Mansion in Shandong has submitted a letter of surrender?”

Li Zhen picked up the letter of appointment from the table and looked at it repeatedly: "Then let's give it a try? Anyway, with my older brother backing me up, what am I afraid of!"

Seeing that Li Zhen had finally understood, Zhang Cheng immediately beamed with joy. Little did he know that Li Zhen didn't want to be the county magistrate because he feared that in a decade or so, when the Mongols marched south, all local officials from the Song and Jin dynasties would be slaughtered. This wasn't being an official; it was practically courting death.

However, Zhang Cheng was right about one thing: once he became the magistrate of Tangyin County, wouldn't he be able to do whatever he wanted with the territory? He should take this opportunity to develop his armed forces. Even if he couldn't contend for the Central Plains, at least he would be able to protect himself.

That evening, in the largest private room at Yi Jiangnan, Zhang Cheng put his arm around Li Zhen's neck and drank himself into a stupor. In the end, he even insisted on becoming sworn brothers with Li Zhen.

Early the next morning, Zhang Cheng, still drunk, handed over the position of magistrate of Tangyin County. In truth, besides the official seal and a few account books, there was nothing else. Tangyin City had just been looted by refugees, and the grain in the granaries was borrowed from Li Zhen. Now that Li Zhen had become the magistrate of Tangyin, the grain wouldn't need to be repaid.

Finally, Li Zhen and the others saw Zhang Cheng and his family off. At the city gate, Zhang Cheng turned around and looked at the place where he had stayed for two years, and a tear welled up in the corner of his eye.

Seeing her husband's expression, Madam Zhang knew he was reluctant to leave, so she said to him...

"Alright, the master may frequently change administrative locations in the future. It's like an iron camp with ever-changing soldiers. Handing Tangyin over to Li Zhen is a good choice. Besides, isn't Li Zhen under your jurisdiction?"

Zhang Cheng wiped his eyes with his sleeve, took his wife's hand and sighed, "My wife is right. After I take office, I will definitely work hard and strive to reach a higher level, so as not to embarrass my father-in-law and you."

The carriage and the escorting soldiers disappeared outside Tangyin City, and Li Zhen led his men back to the county government office.

Li Zhen was already very familiar with this county government office. He called out the names again according to the roster, made some minor adjustments to the personnel, and replaced all the patrolmen with soldiers from Li Family Village. He planned to make other arrangements for the original personnel, and handed over the accounts and warehouse to Yue Peng for management.

Everyone felt that Li Zhen's arrangement was perfectly normal. After all, every new official brings a new court, and as long as their own positions and interests didn't change much, that was fine.

Since the arrival of the refugee caravan, the Li family village had been responsible for maintaining order in Tangyin City, which now made their position even more legitimate. Wang Changdao was directly appointed as a county magistrate by Li Zhen, thus becoming a person with an official post.

After hearing the news, Wang Changdao and his wife didn't sleep a wink all night. Before dawn, Wang Changdao went to his ancestral graves to tell his ancestors the good news. Some busybodies heard about it and started spreading the story, but the story got distorted. Some even said that not only was blue smoke rising from Wang Changdao's ancestral graves, but green flames also appeared.