Chapter 69: Wu Erlang Goes to Qingfeng Village
Needless to say, Yang Zhi went to Tokyo to pursue his ridiculous future.

Spring is warm, flowers are blooming, grass is growing and orioles are flying.

A new year brings new hope. The heroes each took on a mission and contributed to the development of Liangshan.

Ruan Xiaowu, Shi Xiu, Deng Fei and Lu Fang led the cavalry company to Yinmachuan. Whether the Liao Kingdom's trade route is unobstructed is related to Liangshan's capital chain and is of utmost importance.

Moreover, the north is the battlefield where cavalry gallops. Riding horses for a year in Liangshan is not as good as going to Liaodong for a trip.

Ruan Xiaoer stayed in Liangshan to train sailors, Song Wan trained sword and shield soldiers, Du Qian trained spearmen, and Lin Chong served as the chief coach to provide guidance.

Meng Kang and Tang Long also established their own shipbuilding and forging departments, working day and night to build ships and forge iron to accumulate experience.

Zhu Gui still runs his hotel at Lijiadaokou and gathers information from all sources. This is Liangshan's window to the outside world and a transit station for attracting talents.

Wang Lun was in charge of internal affairs, Wu Yong was in charge of planning, and everything was in order.

On Cao Jie's side, he led Ruan Xiaoqi, Cao Zheng, Jiao Ting and Shi Qian to buy an official position for Wu Song.

As for Lu Zhishen, he would go to Qingzhou to set up a branch as soon as Wu Song arrived at Qingfeng Village.

In March, Shandong is covered with green mountains and white clouds. It can be regarded as the best season of the year. The fragrance of flowers is refreshing every time you breathe.

"elder brother!"

That day, Wu Song, wearing a dusty hat, strode into Cao's residence, bowed his head and said, "Brother, the imperial court has appointed me to Qingzhou immediately to serve as the chief of Qingfeng Village."

"Second brother Wu, how come you are the Wenzhizhai? It doesn't sound impressive, like those officials held by scholars and juren! Not as good as the Wuzhizhai..." Jiao Ting was as loud-mouthed as ever.

Everyone knew that he was a talkative person and his words were unpleasant to the ear, but no one cared.

They all congratulated Wu Song on his promotion and his brother on the success of his plan.

【Complete a strategy】

[Experience of "Strategist" +9]

"Is buying an official position also considered a scheme?"

"Okay! I'll take over Liu Gao's official position and save his life, which will solve his problem!"

Thinking of Liu Gao, Cao Jie thought of the wife of the village chief, who was as vicious as a snake but beautiful and charming.

"I wonder where Liu Gao is now?"

The important thing is to take care of the dirty things, so he calmed down immediately.

After all, Meimian is his personal guard, and he is not inferior to others in hand-to-hand combat. Cao Jie will not underestimate him if his life is at stake. He explained:
"Jiao Ting, this Wenzhizhai is a chief officer of a military base. Although Wuzhizhai sounds good, he is just a deputy officer. No, he is not even an official, but a clerk. If we buy an official position for Wu Erlang, do we have to buy a clerk to do it?"

"So that's it!"

Jiao Ting nodded his fat head vigorously. This man was not a bad person by nature, he just had a big mouth.

The "zhai" in Qingfengzhai refers to the patrol inspection village, not the market town. Therefore, the "Zhaizhi" is not the mayor, but actually refers to the patrol inspector.

In the Song Dynasty, strongholds were built in strategic locations in various states at the same level as counties, with stronghold officers or governors in charge, who were responsible for recruiting soldiers, teaching martial arts, and preventing thieves.

For criminal acts, those sentenced to caning or above will be sent to the state for punishment, and the rest will be decided by the village chief.

Wu Song's current official position is equivalent to Guan Sheng's Pudong Inspector, but his authority is limited to being in charge of a village in a dangerous area. His power may be smaller than that of a county inspector, but the scope of his power exercised is more free.

In Pudong County, Guan Sheng was just a small military officer, but in Qingfeng Village, Wu Song was the highest official.

I would rather have a chicken head than a phoenix tail.

Everyone had made preparations early, and the next day, Wu Song went to Qingfeng Village and took up the post of village chief.

Cao Jie and others, as his staff and subordinates, gathered in Qingzhou.

Qingzhou is one of the ancient nine states recorded in ancient books. "Hai Dai is Qingzhou" generally refers to an area starting from Bohai Sea and Mount Tai, covering Hebei and Shandong Peninsulas.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou implemented the system of enfeoffment in order to reward the meritorious officials and royal family of the Zhou Dynasty. He first enfeoffed Lü Shang, who was also his teacher, in Yingqiu and named the country Qi.

After Taigong arrived in Yingqiu, he developed industry and commerce, and took advantage of the local fish and salt resources, which greatly increased the population and made Qi a great country. Qingzhou has the advantages of fish and salt, but in Cao Jie's view, Qingzhou's resources are by no means just fish and salt.

Zaozhuang's large coal mines, Zibo's open-pit iron ore, limestone, natural sulfur, etc. all have extremely rich mineral reserves.

Qingzhou, Qingfeng Village, is a small to medium-sized mountain village with six or seven hundred soldiers, standing majestically in the middle of a steep mountain road.

Although the village is small, it has everything.

Eating, drinking, defecating and urinating for six or seven hundred soldiers is simple, but soldiers are also human beings and have spiritual and physiological needs.

As a result, entertainment venues appeared not far from the village, and later, a market gradually formed around that area.

After all, Qingfeng Village still has some strength and can ensure the safety of the area, so the surrounding villages and towns are willing to come here for the market.

Rumble!
Cao Jie and his entourage came galloping on two horses, like an army of thousands.

In front of Qingfeng Village, Wu Song, who was leading the way, pulled the reins. The horse neighed, and he stood up, looking around and looking down at the crowd.

"Dang Dang Dang!"

The sound of blasting horns rang out from the watchtower of the village. Immediately, several barricades were pushed by the soldiers to block the village gate, and then they ran into the village.

"Who is coming?"

Someone was shouting loudly behind the village gate, but he didn't dare to show up.

The soldiers in Qingfeng Village were not bad, but the strong ones were limited. After all, they only earned a few coins and a few bushels of rice a month, so there was no need to fight to the death.

"Wusong from Qinghe County!"

Wu Song shouted loudly.

"Ah! It's the new commander of the village. Quick, quick, push the barricades away..."

A young general wearing leather armor came out of the village gate and shouted, "The village chief has arrived! Beat the gongs and drums! Perform the yangko dance! Welcome the village chief!"

As soon as the soldiers pushed open the barricades, a group of women rushed out from the gate of the village.

Under the gaze of the crowd, these women were seen setting up big drums, waving red silks, singing and dancing, their graceful bodies twisting to the beat of the drums.

Firecrackers were also hung on the wooden watchtower, making a crackling sound and creating a lively atmosphere.

After the drum dance, the gentry appeared from nowhere and clasped their fists in unison:
"Welcome to Master Zhizhai!"

Wu Song rode forward, looking at the gentry, and suddenly turned his head and said, "Brother, you are here with bad intentions!"

"Brother, we are the ones coming!"

Cao Jie took away Liu Gao's official position and also snatched away the promotion channel of Hua Rong, the head of Wuzhizhai. He definitely had bad intentions.

The Qingfeng Village originally thought that Hua Rong was the only rival, but this person was easy to win over.

Looking at those gentry now, Cao Jie feels that Liu Gao might be the biggest opponent.

Since ancient times, imperial power has never extended to the countryside. There are only clans in the countryside. The clans are self-governing, and self-governance depends on ethics, and ethics creates gentry.

Therefore, the social governance of the Song Dynasty was jointly composed of bureaucrats and rural gentry. The state's main concerns in the countryside were taxation and public security, while other affairs were undertaken by gentry, clan leaders, etc., thus forming a governance pattern of "imperial power not going to the countryside."

As the village chief, Wu Song had no conflict of interest with the local gentry.

But if Liu Gao was a local gentry, everything would be hard to say.

"Liu Gao's wife went to Qingfeng Mountain to visit a grave and was captured by the dwarf tiger. This shows that Liu Gao might also be from this place."

"He might be among these gentry now..."

Cao Jie smiled in his heart, what is there to be afraid of just a Liu Gao!

(End of this chapter)