There are two centers in Jiangnan, one is the economic center dominated by Yangzhou Prefecture, and the other is the military center dominated by Jiangzhou.

Yangzhou Prefecture has seven counties and thirteen cities under its jurisdiction, with a large population and extremely developed commerce.

Yangzhou Governor Andaxuan, who is in his early fifties, is not very handsome, has a square face, a short man, a beard, and his simple clothes and appearance. When people see it, they think that this is an inconspicuous ordinary old man.

Li Xun asked Andaxuan to come out to welcome thirty years, but Andaxuan naturally did not dare to disobey. Not only did he go out to welcome him, but he also went out to welcome him for fifty miles and twenty miles. But what's interesting is that Andaxuan did not lead the army, and there were only three people including him.

Andaxuan was born into the An family and was the former right assistant minister of the Ministry of Works. He was his younger brother, but An Jian was the legitimate child, while Andaxuan was the concubine child.

In the second year of Chengping, Zhao Zhi expanded the Political Affairs Hall and added two prime ministers, increasing the number of prime ministers to seven.

At that time, An Jian was the right minister of the Ministry of Works to compete for the position of prime minister. He belonged to the right prime minister party and helped the powerful party. Yang Daosi also contributed to the fire. Among the competitors at that time, An Jian had a great voice and had a great advantage.

Unfortunately, Zhao Zhi didn't like An Jian's personality and personality, and tried his best to stop him. At that time, Yang Daosi finally chose to compromise in order to quell the struggle in the court as soon as possible, which led to An Jian's entry into the Political Affairs Hall and eventually went bankrupt. This incident aroused great dissatisfaction with An Jian.

In order to appease An Jian, Yang Daosi gave the position of governor of Yangzhou to the An clan.

As the head of the clan, An Jian finally chose Andaxuan, who was born in a villain but had strong abilities, and asked him to serve as the governor of Yangzhou.

Political rules: if you don’t advance, you will retreat. An Jian did not compete for the position of prime minister, which was the beginning of his regression. Coupled with his domineering and selfish personality, he eventually became a marginal figure, excluded, and eventually became a victim of political struggles, losing all official positions and status.

An Jian's failure, from a broad perspective, is actually the decline of the entire An clan.

Political failure and the decline of the family did not affect Andaxuan. Of course, this was related to his ability. He did a good job in Yangzhou and was praised by Zhao Zhi many times. From the second year of Chengping to the present, Andaxuan has been in the position of governor of Yangzhou for a full ten years.

Near noon, Li Xun and his group came here.

"Sir, Yangzhou Governor Andalun came to pay a visit."

Qi Dafu reported.

Li Xun got off the carriage. At this time, Andaxuan had already arrived near and bowed and said, "The lower-ranking official Yangzhou Governor Andaxuan, pay homage to the Prime Minister."

"Mr. An is exempt from gifts."

Li Xun said while scanning the surroundings. Except for Andaxuan and the two attendants standing behind him, there was no sign of the army.

Andaxuan looked at Li Xun and laughed: "Sir, this trip to Yangzhou is just passing by, or how many days should I stay there?"

"It depends on the situation."

Li Xun couldn't help asking, "Sir An, you have three people here, is it wrong?"

Anda Xuan smiled and said, "I wonder what the Lord said is inappropriate, what does it mean?"

Before Li Xun could speak, Yan Yi, who was standing beside him, said loudly: "General An, your officials in Jiangnan are quite bad to us. You just come here like this. What really happens then? Who can guarantee your safety?"

Andaxuan laughed: "This general is a bit harsh. If there is a prime minister here, who dares to do anything randomly?"

Li Xun said indifferently: "I'm afraid of anything."

Andaxuan nodded and said, "What the Lord said is that there is a possibility for everything. In this way, if someone dares to do rude things to the Lord, he will take the Lord down. If he uses this as a hostage, the Lord still has some reputation in Yangzhou. If the Lord is in your hands, they will never dare to do anything randomly."

Li Xun looked at Anda Sun in surprise, thinking that he was joking to spend time on himself, but looking at his serious expression, Li Xun felt that he was really thinking.

Yan Yi sneered: "You are talking light."

Andaxuan said lukewarmly: "Since you come, you will be at ease. I am not afraid. What is this general who has to worry about?"

Yan Yi was so choked by Andaxuan that he couldn't speak for a while.

Li Xun looked at Andaxuan deeply, nodded, and said, "Mr. An, please follow me in a carriage. I can learn about some of the situation in Yangzhou through you."

"Yes, sir."

Andaxuan bowed and responded, looking very comfortable.

Li Xun and Andaxuan got on the carriage, and the group set off again and continued to rush to Yangzhou City.

Li Xun asked a lot about Yangzhou and even the Jiangnan region, and deliberately asked some sensitive topics. What surprised Li Xun again was that Anda Xuan actually said everything he knew and said everything he knew. He did not hide much. When it came to his rise, Anda Xuan also talked about buying an official with Li Xun.

After Zhao Zhi ascended the throne, the first thing was to restore the imperial guards. Only with the army could the situation within the pass be stabilized. However, recruiting the army required huge amounts of money. At that time, the court's finances were extremely difficult and there was no money at all. Due to this situation, ordinary taxes could no longer meet the needs of the court. Zhao Zhi finally turned his attention to the Jiangnan region, where the business was developed and there were many rich merchants. However, if they had money, you could not rob them, so you could only let them take out the money voluntarily.

The system of selling official positions came into being. Of course, it was just a dispersed official, not a real position, but even so, it was full of great temptation for the majority of businessmen.

In people's traditional concepts, it is a matter of glorifying one's family and one's ancestors in life.

Even if you can't squeeze into the officialdom, you will put a lucky couple on your own lintel, "Farming and reading will pass on your family, and reading will continue to grow." to show that you are not an ordinary farmer.

In this era, the status of merchants was very low. They might be very rich, but they lost a lot of political power. Scholars, farmers, industry and businessmen, "we are called markets and lowly people, and they are called markets and mercenaries, and they are not allowed to join the scholars and officials."

As for selling official positions, many ministers in the court strongly opposed it. Although merchants took out huge amounts of money to buy an official position, they only improved their social status and some political privileges, other than that, they actually had no practical effect. They would not enter the officialdom and could not hold actual positions.

Li Xun looked at Andaxuan quietly. The impression of this person gave him was a bit strange, talkative, not just talking nonsense, and he dared to say something very sensitive, and he had his own unique insights. In the overall decline of the An clan, Andaxuan was still able to firmly sit in the position of Yangzhou Governor. No one could move him away for a whole decade. Andaxuan did have his own abilities.
Chapter completed!