Ouyang Rong opened his eyes early.

It was just after dawn outside, and the sky was not bright yet, but it was still a little dark inside the house.

But the energetic chirping of insects in the early morning has already filled my ears.

He stared at the curtain on the top of the bed, dazed for a while.

He sniffed.

Hmm, I feel a little stuffy.

Ouyang Rong lowered his eyes to look at the well-covered quilt, and without thinking much, he opened Wei Lai's white left calf that was resting on his waist and turned over to lie down.

The sound of him getting up also woke up the sleepy Vera.

The latter rubbed his eyes and stood up, looked around in confusion for a moment, became more awake, hurriedly jumped out of the warm bed, ran out of bed and helped his master get dressed.

Ouyang Rong got up and stretched himself.

The white-haired maid half hugged him from behind, put her two small hands around Ouyang Rong's waist, and tied his belt for him.

She is taller than her peers, but when she stands on tiptoes, she can only reach the chest height of her slender master.

"How did Master sleep last night?"

"It's okay. I've been sleeping soundly recently and haven't had any insomnia."

Wei Lai asked curiously: "So is your face still uncomfortable this morning?"

Ouyang Rong touched his face.

When I woke up this morning, the sour and astringent taste in my mouth was still there, but it was less so. The same was true on my face, not too spicy anymore. It was much better than the previous few days.

He shook his head and muttered:

"It's getting better. It seems that I have to eat less spicy food recently. My aunt didn't let the kitchen cook these days, but it's getting better... maybe it's some strange allergy."

Wei Lai knelt down to tidy up his clothes and put on his shoes without being too dirty. She raised her face and smiled:

"The mung bean cakes made in the kitchen are also very delicious. Come and learn from me, slave."

The master and servant chatted for a while, and after washing up, Ouyang Rong accompanied Zhen to have breakfast as usual, and then went out to meet up with his junior sister.

…

"The Yue Nu Gorge is indeed a magical work. The intersection of the two water systems is as narrow as a beautiful woman's waist. There are two mountains facing each other on both sides. The underwater terrain rises, which is really strange."

"Thanks to Mr. Ming Fu, Mr. Chen and everyone for building this sluice. This is a truly ingenious thing. Otherwise, no matter how miraculous the topography is, it will be useless, and Mr. Ming Fu is still famous!"

"It's not like I originally selected the site for Duke Di. It was Duke Di who suggested building it. I just copied it. Master Diao, please don't disappoint me. I can't afford it."

"Master Mingfu is so humble. You must know that Xiao Gui and Cao Sui are also a kind of wisdom. This means that you can stay calm and calm, do not blindly compare and show off, and can learn from your predecessors with an open mind...

"And according to my official opinion, the Broken Wing Canal proposed by the Ming Dynasty is not inferior to the Di Gong Gate. On the contrary, it can promote commerce and benefit people's livelihood, which is slightly better. Mr. Ming Fu is so powerful at a young age. It is impossible to say that in time,

Like Di Fuzi, he is another 'Southeast Pearl', stepping into the ranks of noble officials."

"Sir Diao, Mr. Di is a state elder whom your majesty respects and honors. I am only a seventh-rank sesame official. This is not worthy of comparison."

Ouyang Rong turned his head, half smiling but not smiling.

As usual, Ouyang Rong and his junior sister came early in the morning to the place where Di Gong Gate was built upstream.

This place is called Yuenv Gorge by the locals. The water from Yunmeng Daze in the south enters Butterfly Creek from the mouth of the gorge, then winds its way through Longcheng County and then merges into the river.

Only by looking up from a high place like now can we clearly understand why the terrain of Yuenv Gorge is so suitable for building a gate and why Di Gong chose this location.

On both sides of the river bank of Yue Nu Gorge, there are two mountains facing each other.

The locals call them Longbei Mountain and Caifeng Mountain respectively.

Two mountains extend from the shore to the bottom of the river, with rocks protruding from them.

A few days ago, before Ouyang Rong and others started to build the sluice, he sent Liu Ashan and other people who were familiar with water properties to sneak under the river.

It was discovered that there were rocks at the bottom of the river that looked like a tunnel, spanning dozens of feet.

This is naturally a good place to build a sluice, which can relatively control the water that accumulates and overflows from the source of Yunmengze, a vast and vast freshwater lake.

Ouyang Rong somewhat understood why the previous Longcheng County magistrates were keen to rebuild the sluice here. Not only was it to protect the political achievements and reputation of Master Di, but without the new water conservancy of Zheyi Canal, this large sluice would indeed be very suitable for frequent floods.

Longcheng County.

The only problem is that Dickong Gate seems to be a bit prone to collapse...

At the moment, Ouyang Rongzheng took his junior sister, Liu Ashan, Diao County Prime Minister and other scribes to the Longbei Mountain on the south bank of Yuenv Gorge, overlooking the brand new sluice that was about to be built below.

This is what Ouyang Rong likes to do every few days. He takes his subordinates and followers to the top of the mountain to take a closer look at the rough prototype of Di Gong Gate and understand the construction progress.

These days, with Ouyang Rong's personal daily dispatch, and the efforts of Mr. Chen and other craftsmen sent by the Liu family, as well as a group of young men sent by the county government.

Dickong Gate is rapidly taking shape under the eyes of everyone, almost changing every day.

After casually dealing with Diao Xian Cheng, who liked to flatter Shangguan, Ouyang Rong squinted at the porous sluice gate, which was a large masonry structure below.

He seemed to be thinking about something in his mind.

He didn't speak for a long time.

Diao County Cheng, who was sweating profusely from climbing the mountain, took the sweat towel handed by his subordinate and wiped the sweat on his forehead.

As he gets older, how can he compare with the energetic young county magistrate, and the latter has a very strong action and resolute character. As soon as he greets someone, he will lead everyone to climb mountains and drill into forests if they disagree with each other...

Diao Xian Cheng took a breath, glanced at Ouyang Rong's calm side face, and tried to say:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Your Excellency, the Ming Dynasty, has just come down to serve as a local official. Maybe one day, with his talent in the world, he will be favored by your majesty, or someone may help you.

"Just because Jane is in the heart of the emperor, she may soar into the sky. I just hope that when the time comes, the Ming Dynasty will not forget the days when I worked with Xiaguan to control floods and build gates in Longcheng."

"Master Diao has indeed worked hard and is willing to accompany me to make trouble."

Ouyang Rong recovered his mind, sighed, and shook his head:

"Jane is in the Emperor's heart...can you please help me...hehe."

There were some truths that Ouyang Rong didn't say.

However, even a small county magistrate of the eighth grade knows that it is not enough to have the talent of managing the world and the ability to control floods. You must have the support of noble people.

Of course, if you can make the current empress favor you, then you can do it in one step, and you can go to the political hall of Luojing Center to discuss matters tomorrow.

This is really not an exaggeration.

You see, just a few months after Master Di became prime minister, he was beaten to the bottom and demoted to the title of Dragon City Order. Then not long after, he was promoted back to Luojing and became prime minister again.

The gradient of this ascent is like a roller coaster, like a joke...

This is because although the Zhou Dynasty had imperial examinations, it was not a literati politics at all, but an aristocratic politics.

No one like Ouyang Rong, an upstart from the imperial examination, can compare with the ninth-generation noble family like Xiaojunmei. The promotion stage is just a small trail on their grand road.

Every year, the imperial examinations are held in the capital of the gods. The dozens of people from the north and the south who are selected as scholars are proof of this. But not all of these dozens of people are as lucky as Ouyang Rong to be awarded an official position at the Xingyuan Banquet.

The nobles of Guanlong and the Qiwang of the Five Surnames were the main players on the stage of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The new elites in the imperial examination are at best the icing on the cake, small building blocks used by emperors of all dynasties to balance the balance of power.

Therefore, most of the local officials outside Luojing would never be promoted to the capital city if they did not have the support of noble people.

Because of the gradual centralization of power in the Zhou Dynasty, the central and local governments were more internally focused than externally. The local states and counties were divided into many levels. After being upgraded a few levels, it would be better if they were not upgraded, and the improvement was not significant.

This is also what might happen to Ouyang Rong if he stays and gets promoted after the disaster relief and flood control. Maybe he goes to a certain state in Jiangnan Province to take up a salty position, and he is not comfortable as a county magistrate. Well,

Maybe we can also have a "Jiangzhou Sima Qingshan Wet".

In this regard, we can also fully understand why Ouyang Rong was promoted from a ninth-rank official in Luojing, which was similar to the emperor's secretarial agency, to a local seventh-rank county magistrate, but he was promoted openly and secretly.

As for the noble backer Ouyang Rong could find, if he thought about it carefully, he could only rely on his mentor Xie Xun, who respected him, but it was a pity that the latter did not seem to be involved in the officialdom of the Zhou Dynasty now.

"Master Diao, there is only one person like Master Di. Moreover, His Majesty has been here for a long time, and not everyone can be in the Emperor's heart now. Let's not think so much and do our best at the moment."

Ouyang Rong, who just wanted to control the flood and get away with it, glanced at Diao Xian Cheng, who had "the heart of the five-day Beijing omen", and said it lightly.

Diao Xiancheng did not know that this person was not on the same track as him at all.

Both are officials in Longcheng, and someone wants a quick victory.

"It's very, very important that we do our best to repair the gate now."

Diao Xian Cheng nodded, glanced at the noble daughter of the Xie family who was following behind Ouyang Rong calmly, and said with a smile:

"I just couldn't help but tell you in advance, haha, I'm a good judge of people and thieves, and 80% of the time the Ming Dynasty masters will be able to achieve great success."

Ouyang Rong smiled and didn't reply.

Behind him, Xie Lingjiang, dressed in men's clothing and carrying a sword, glanced at Diao County Cheng.

In fact, she has always found the pairing of Eldest Brother and Diao Xiancheng to be very interesting.

The two types of scholars who can most widely represent the Zhou Dynasty have less ways to express their ambitions than the latter:

The senior brother pursues bottom-up, while Diao Xiancheng pursues top-down.

Ouyang Rong also said a few words to Diao County Prime Minister and the scribes behind him, and everyone dispersed.
To be continued...