After the last warship of the foreigners left, the two sides of the Dagu Pass became two large construction sites in full swing.

Shi Rongchun, the new governor of Zhili, sat on the south bank, stared at the 2,000 soldiers and nearly 3,000 people gathered by local officials, built forts according to the drawings given by the minister Monk Lingqin, and supervised the construction of iron barrages and rafts to block the river.

He was about to send someone down to see what materials were loaded in the two boats that had just gone downstream, when he found a dozen horsemen galloping along the riverbank, and then looked at the banner of the horse team, he was taken aback, hurriedly straightened his official uniform, picked up his waist knife, and rushed down with a few guards to meet him.

"Humble Shi Rongchun visited the prince, the prince arrived, and he missed the welcome, please forgive the prince!"

"Brother doesn't need to be polite." Monk Lingqin did not dismount, but held a horsewhip and pointed to the soldiers who were shouldering their shoulders with the people and asked, "Brother Shi, why don't you gather your subordinates to practice quickly?" ”

"Lord Wang, the fort project is huge, and I am worried that it will be too late."

"No matter how strong the fort is, there must be capable soldiers to defend it, and I am worried that the construction period will not be able to catch up, so I can move to the local provincial government to recruit more people."

"Obedience!"

Monk Greenqin's face softened a little, turned over and dismounted, and strode towards the old site of the fort, while asking coldly: "How are these newly recruited soldiers?" ”

Speaking of this, Shi Rongchun was depressed, and said with a bitter face: "Lord Wang, most of these newly recruited soldiers have no skills, they can't make a living, they only come for food, and there are hundreds of people who dare not cross!" ”

As expected, Monk Greenqin stopped and muttered: "Those who dare not cross the river will withdraw their water and rations." The rest of the soldiers are brave, and from now on they will start to practice day and night, and they will be able to carry guns and bird guns as the skills they should learn, and then they will be able to fire their guns accurately, and they will be given five dollars in silver for their work; and can use a shotgun to drill skillfully, and when the battle can be against the spear, the labor fee will be increased to five silver coins; For example, those who practice various acrobatic skills such as spears and waist knives will be given a penny of silver for each skill; There will be brave men under the heavy reward, and this king does not believe that he cannot train a soldier who can fight. ”

"The prince is wise, and he will summon them to practice if he is lowly."

Seeing the curling smoke rising in the distance, thinking that the meal would be opened later, Monk Lingqin said in a low voice: "Let's wait for them to finish their lunch, and take this king to see the foreign cannons transported from Fujian first." ”

"The cannon is ahead, the prince please."

"What about gunpowder and cannon pellets?"

"Lord Wang, I was worried that the gunpowder would be damp, so I sent someone to transport it to the back road yesterday afternoon, and ordered someone to keep it properly. The cannon pellets are together with the cannon, all in front. ”

"Have you fired a few shots?"

"The gunpowder cannon pills are expensive, and I didn't dare to put them down."

"Confused! If you don't fire a few cannons, how do you know if these cannons are good or not, and whether they are sharp or not? ”

"What the prince said is that he sent someone to transport two barrels of gunpowder."

"Hurry up."

Monk Lingqin stopped, waited for Shi Rongchun to explain to his own soldiers, and came to the place where the foreign cannons were stored.

If you are not afraid of not knowing the goods, you are afraid of comparing goods.

The twelve foreign cannons sent by Fugui from Fujian looked stronger than the six iron cannons sent from the capital on the side, and even the iron bullets piled up in the corner looked rounder than the cannon balls cast by the Beijing Bureau.

Seeing that Monk Greenqin was reluctant to put down the cannon pills, Shi Rongchun remembered something and said cautiously: "Lord Wang, Lord Han Xiufeng of Fengchen Yuanqing came here yesterday afternoon and has also seen these cannons. ”

"What is he here for?"

He also felt strange, he said that he had come to Tianjin to purchase the materials needed to dredge the Nanyuan River and Haizi. But this is Dagukou, not Tianjin. The transporter who had delivered the cannon had come with him, and he looked at the cannon, looked around the neighborhood, and took a few of his attachés to the north shore by boat. ”

Monk Greenqin didn't think that Han Xiufeng came here just to look at the cannons, so he looked at the other side and said lightly: "My brother doesn't know, these cannons were sent by him, and it is reasonable for him to come and take a look." ”

"I see, I really don't know about it."

"Did he ask anything else?"

"No, he just walked around." Seeing that Monk Lingqin's face was not quite right, he raised his arm and pointed to the west and said, "Come to think of it, he has been over there for a long time." ”

"What are those people doing?"

"Those are the craftsmen gathered by Tianjin County to build barrage rafts."

Thinking that the mouth of the sea is so wide, Monk Greenqin said with a gloomy face: "The raft is useless, stop working!" ”

"Stoppage?" Shi Rongchun couldn't believe that this was true, and couldn't help but remind: "Lord Wang, a lot of timber has been shipped, and Tianjin Prefecture and Tianjin County are still trying to find ways to procure it, so it's a pity to stop work like this, and not use it like this." ”

"Timber has other uses, such as building walled walls, or building anti-artillery holes, so that rafts don't need to be rebuilt, and it's true that more iron is cast."

"Yes."

……

For Han Xiufeng, an uninvited guest who ran to the fort without saying a word, Monk Lingqin's mood was extremely complicated. He knew very well that Han Xiufeng would not come for no reason, and nine times out of ten he came on the orders of the emperor. He didn't like to be criticized, and he couldn't accept the fact that the emperor was not very comfortable with him, and directly thought that the reason why the emperor ordered Han Xiufeng to come must have been invited by Prince Yi, Prince Zheng and Su Shun.

What makes him even more depressed is that he can neither complain nor complain when encountering this kind of thing.

After all, the dozen or so foreign cannons just now were sent by Han Xiufeng's people, and the forts on the north and south banks that were being worked on were also built according to the drawings drawn by Han Xiufeng when he inspected the coastal defense years ago, and even the foreign guns used by the guards were all obtained from the soldiers of the river battalion who were recommended by Han Xiufeng to serve in Nanyuan.

Just when he was very annoyed with Han Xiufeng, but he was helpless about Han Xiufeng, Han Xiufeng was sitting at the door of a private house not far from the North Shore Fort, talking to Fugui while drinking tea. The rich second son, Jixiang, was busy preparing lunch with the main family.

"Fourth master, let's eat ours, you really don't have to wait for Master Rong and them?"

"They brought dry food, so leave them alone."

Fugui thought about it and couldn't help asking: "Fourth master, when I came out in the morning, I heard Lord Chonghou say that the monk king would come over every three or five days to inspect. If so, should we go and see them? ”

"If you really meet, you naturally want to see you."

"Shall he be upset if we go around under his nose?"

"So we have to hide, if we can't see it, we won't see it." Han Xiufeng put down the tea bowl, looked at the few children laughing and playing at the entrance of the village, thought about it and said with a wry smile: "It's just once, if you always turn under his nose, it's really not easy to say this after seeing it." ”

"What then?"

"Isn't he short of money and food, we can make some fuss about money and food, if we really meet, we will say that we will send him food and salary, at least we can get by on face."

"I know the grain, the emperor has ordered you to help raise food with Lord Chonghou, but where does the money come from?"

"Hubu, this errand that offended people was originally given to me by Su Shun, and when I went back to him to write a letter, I asked him to leave some more or less for me when he allocated military salaries to the general grain station in Tongzhou. Then ask him to help me ask the emperor for an errand to relieve the army's salary, so that it will be justified. ”

"It's still the fourth master, you have a way."

"Don't be flattering, this is also a helpless way, in fact, the monk king's heart is like a mirror, and now he can only ask for a face to get by."

"That's right, after all, you are Fengchen Yuanqing, and you won't come here for no reason."

"Let's not talk about that, let's talk about you, what are your plans next." Han Xiufeng asked with a smile.

Fugui waited for a few days, and finally waited for this opportunity, and hurriedly said: "Fourth master, I don't have much interest, and I don't have much ink in my stomach, so it's all up to you to have today." Although I have made a small contribution to the preparation of foreign artillery this time, even if the emperor is gracious, how big can I do with this official? ”

"Go on."

"I'm not afraid of your jokes, Fourth Master, my bowels are repentant now, I really shouldn't have let Jixiang go to Fujian with me. With you and Lord Wen taking care of me, Jilu doesn't have to worry about me anymore, but Jixiang has achieved nothing, the palm of the hand is meat, and the back of the hand is also meat, so I want to ask you and Lord Wen to help, see if I can help Jixiang and find an errand, it doesn't matter if I am an official or not. ”

Han Xiufeng looked up at Ji Xiang with a nervous face, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's really pitiful for the hearts of parents all over the world!" ”

"Let the fourth master smile, I don't have any other thoughts now, just the thought of auspiciousness."

"Ji Lu can be the head of Shangnanyuan, it is because he has worked in the bookstore for several years, even if he has no credit, he has hard work. Although Jixiang is running errands for the imperial court with you, he has no official status and is not on the official roster of Houyitang, and the emperor doesn't know that there is such a person as Jixiang. ”

Han Xiufeng paused, and then said: "So it's a little difficult to climb to the sky in one step, if I can endure hardships, I can think of a way to see if I can send Jixiang to the palace on an errand, starting with Lan Ling's guards, and working hard for a few years first." ”

Without waiting for Fugui to speak, Jixiang said eagerly: "I can endure hardship, Lord Han, I listen to you!" ”