Cui Huanzhang and Yang Yanqing were just taking the lead in the front, and it was not just the two of them who were fighting openly and secretly with the guest governors of the eight provinces. As Han Xiufeng expected, such a confidential matter as "rectifying the group training" quickly spread.

When the news reached the Huguang Guild Hall, Changjiang Zonghai, who was not very worried about Huguang, couldn't sit still, he never thought that Han Xiufeng was ordered to help with the group training is such a help!

If it is really as the rumors say, then the Baojia Bureau, which is also the gentry of the bureau, will definitely become the first target to be rectified, because the regimental training is a local matter, since it is necessary to rectify or even abolish it, the first to be rectified or even abolished is those tea warriors of the Baojia Bureau. And if those Cha Yong recruited from Chaling Prefecture are dismissed, what will the Baojia Bureau do with forty or fifty thousand taels of silver a year?

One must build on a firm foundation!

Jiang Zonghai didn't dare to wait for news any longer, and hurriedly went to see the county master.

Xiangqing, the magistrate of Ba County, did not take the benefits of merchants from eight provinces, and did not want the Baojia Bureau to be laid off like this, so he hurried to help find Du Xingyuan, the prefect of Chongqing. Du Xingyuan, who was already thinking of taking advantage of the fisherman, naturally would not come out like this, so he simply took Xiangqing to report to Daotai.

Cao Shuzhong also didn't expect the "assistant" to become a "rectification", and at the same time felt that those rumors were not groundless, after all, there were no bandits in Ba County and even the entire East Sichuan Province, and what to do with so many group exercises, it would only be big in the long run. Just when he was pondering in what name Han Xiufeng would rectify or even abolish it, his family sent a name post and a worship post.

Looking at the inscription on the name post and the worship post, "Qin Ci Segu Batulu Reward Belt from the Four Grades to the Top Dai Jia Prefect Rank Assistant to Chongqing Prefecture Prefecture and County Regiment Training Han", Cao Shuzhong hurriedly said: "Please! ”

"Yes, the little one will go."

Cao Shuzhong settled down, sat down and waited for a while, and Han Xiufeng, who was wearing a green cloth robe, walked into the flower hall accompanied by his family.

Without waiting for Han Xiufeng to speak, Cao Shuzhong got up and greeted: "Brother Han, you can be regarded as coming back, this official received an edict from the imperial court a few years ago, and he is waiting for you to come back to help organize the regimental training of the prefectures and counties of Chongqing Prefecture." I never thought that I would wait for more than four months, and I didn't expect you to come back like this, brother, why don't you send someone to the prophet, and the official can also let the Chongqing government summon the local gentry to greet you! ”

He was smiling, enthusiastic, and had no arrogance at all, which surprised Han Xiufeng, who came to see him after entering the city.

"Lord Cao, what are you doing?" Han Xiufeng bowed respectfully, and then bowed down very seriously and sincerely: "My lord is not only old, but also the same year as my uncle Duan, Xiufeng doesn't dare to call me a brother and sister, I implore Lord Cao to be bowed by Xiufeng!" ”

"Okay, okay, that old man calls you Zhixing."

"Master Xie." Han Xiufeng bowed again, and then took out a letter from his sleeve and presented it respectfully: "Lord Cao, this is a letter from Uncle Shi to Xiufeng. Uncle Shi said that I have been saying goodbye to you for more than ten years, and I miss it. ”

"Shi Zanqing?"

"Exactly."

Duan Dazhang mentioned Shi Zanqing last time, saying that Shi Zanqing is now a fellow governor on the north bank of the Yongding River, and he has also been a colleague with the young registered prefect in front of him for nearly a year. Thinking that the person in front of him had already been brought from the top of the fourth grade, and he also called Shi Zanqing, who was from the fifth grade, Uncle Shi, Cao Shuzhong suddenly felt that although the person in front of him was from a donation background, he still knew how to count etiquette.

He beckoned Han Xiufeng to sit and invited Han Xiufeng to have tea, while opening the letter.

Shi Zanqing didn't mention anything else in the letter, just talked about the friendship of the same year, so he quickly read it, put down the letter and asked with a smile: "Zhixing, it's been a few days since you came back, did you go to Jiangbei to meet your uncle?" ”

"My lord, Xiufeng has been back for more than ten days, and he just entered the city this afternoon, and he hasn't had time to go to Jiangbei to see his uncle."

"Ten days?"

"Exactly." Han Xiufeng thought about it and said helplessly: "I wanted to come to meet the adults earlier, but Xiufeng returned to his hometown this time to mourn, and there are a lot of things in his hometown, so he delayed it until today, and I ask the adults to forgive me." ”

"It's okay, the ancients are filial piety, even if you come ten days late, the old man won't blame you."

"Thank you, Lord for your understanding."

Cao Shuzhong felt that Han Xiufeng not only understood etiquette and seemed to be easier to speak, so he didn't want to go around in circles anymore, so he said bluntly: "Zhixing, although you have just come back, the news that you have been ordered to return to your hometown to rectify the group training has spread all over the sky, although it was a little unexpected when you first received the news, it is reasonable to think about it carefully." ”

Han Xiufeng also didn't want to go around in circles, so he hurriedly got up and said: "My lord, forgive me, Xiufeng was indeed released by Xiufeng, but it was purely a last resort, Lord Cao must not take it seriously!" ”

Cao Shuzhong thought that Han Xiufeng would take out a copy of the emperor's edict, but he didn't expect Han Xiufeng to say this, and he was stunned for a while.

Han Xiufeng could only explain with a bitter face: "It's not a secret, just a few days after Xiufeng arrived at Ciyun Mountain's hometown, several local gentry came to the door, planning to help Xiufeng organize a group practice. Keba County and even the entire East Sichuan Province is the most indispensable thing is the group exercise, can Xiufeng use it, not to mention that the group training can not be without food, where does this salary come from? ”

The more Cao Shuzhong listened, the more confused he became, thinking that you didn't plan to hold a group exercise, why did the emperor order you to go back to your hometown to help organize the group exercise, and why did he let you bring ten civil and military officials back.

Han Xiufeng cleared his throat, and then said: "Xiufeng has been an official in Jiangsu, and he has personally experienced that Jiangsu has been extremely urgent to raise salaries since the use of soldiers, relying on donations per mu, and it is impossible to make ends meet. Xiufeng, as a native of Ba County, how could he let the fathers and elders of his hometown, who had not suffered from the war, be as overwhelmed as the people of Liangjiang! ”

"Yes, if you blindly levy grain and increase consumption, so that the people have no way to live, it will really force the people to rebel!"

"In addition, if the people of the province are used to handle the affairs of the province, it will definitely become a constraint for the local officials, and the local military and government affairs will be difficult to improve. Although Xiufeng was ordered to return to his hometown to help organize group training, he never dared to interfere in local government and military affairs, not to mention that there was nothing to do in his hometown, even if there was anything Xiufeng could only discuss with the adults and plan with the gentry. It is impossible to talk about rectifying or even abolishing the existing township regiments, neighborhood regiments, square regiments, and van regiments. ”

Han Xiufeng said all from the bottom of his heart, but the more Cao Shuzhong listened, the more suspicious he became, and he couldn't help asking: "Zhixing, since you have no intention of helping to organize group exercises, and even think that there is no shortage of group exercises in Ba County and even in the entire East Sichuan Province, why did the emperor order you to go back to your hometown to help organize group exercises, and why did you order you to transfer ten civil and military officials from Zhili to accompany you?" ”

"Didn't Tongzi have traitors who committed rebellion, the emperor may not be at ease, so he gave Xiufeng this errand to help the group practice, and asked Xiufeng to bring ten civil and military officials back."

"It's as simple as that?"

"It's as simple as that, my lord didn't mention Xiufeng's check, I forgot," Han Xiufeng took out a roster from his sleeve and presented it: "My lord, this is the roster of civil and military officials who returned to his hometown with Xiufeng to help organize the regimental training, and Gao Yunfeng, the alternate of Zhili, is from Annan, Guizhou, I heard that Annan was captured by bandits, and I didn't worry about my family, so I took two additional foreign commissioners back first, what is the situation in Guizhou, there will be news in the most months." ”

A total of ten were brought back, and three of them went to Guizhou as soon as they arrived in Zoumagang.

Cao Shuzhong felt that the matter was not as simple as Han Xiufeng said, so he looked at the roster and asked, "What about the others?" ”

"All of them were summoned by the first-class adults outside, among whom Chen Hu and Qian Zong Ge Erxiao not only killed Changmao in Yangzhou, but also went to Jinghai to serve in front of the battle. Several other generals and additional foreign commissioners have also been directly subordinate to suppress thieves. The emperor ordered them to return to their hometown with Xiufeng to help organize group exercises, but their hometown really had no intention of doing any more group exercises, and Xiufeng wanted to entrust them to adults and begged them to take them in. ”

Han Xiufeng put on a posture of not wanting to care about anything, and planned to leave people behind and go back to the countryside to continue Ding Wei's posture.

Cao Shuzhong was even more bottomless in his heart, put down the roster and asked curiously: "Zhixing, I heard that there was another person who went to the capital with you back then, and that person seemed to have become an official, why didn't he come back?" ”

"My lord is talking about Lord Yuan, that kid is a fool and has a stupid fortune, and his official luck is better than Xiufeng, and now he is not only a third-class guard, but the emperor also gave him the nickname of 'wronged head'."

"On duty in the palace?"

"Well, learn to walk with the guard of Qianqingmen, Enjun."

Han Xiufeng said it lightly, Cao Shuzhong listened to it in his heart, and secretly thought God knows who you brought back, if one or two of them are also palace guards like that big head, if they are really let stay like this, wouldn't it be "luring wolves into the house", wouldn't it be that there is no eyeliner of the imperial court around them?

Just when Cao Shuzhong thought about it more and more confused, and didn't know how to respond, Han Xiufeng said lightly: "There is another thing I forgot to report to the adults, the reason why Xiufeng was delayed on the road for nearly two months is because he gave birth to a son to Xiufeng on the way back, and second, because Xiufeng only knew about Tongzi thieves at that time, and I didn't know if those bandits had invaded my Sichuan, and I was worried about the safety of my hometown, so I tried every means to ask my friend to advance tens of thousands of taels of silver and purchased one hundred and sixty tap firebird guns and three thousand catties of gunpowder and lead." ”

"Foreign guns?"

"Exactly, it's the kind of flamingo gun used by foreigners, which hits far and is very sharp."

"What about the guns?"

"I'm at Xiufeng's house, just wait for the adults to check it."

Cao Shuzhong thought to himself, you keep saying that you don't plan to help with the regimental training, there is no shortage of regiments in Ba County and even in the entire Eastern Sichuan Province, but not only did you bring ten civil and military officials back, but also brought more than 100 foreign guns, and even sent three civil and military officials to Guizhou to investigate the thief's situation, isn't this a contradiction!

The more Cao Shuzhong thought about it, the more he felt that the seemingly gentle and frugal person in front of him was actually unfathomable, and he didn't dare to agree to anything easily, so he pondered for a moment and got up and said: "Zhixing, why don't you accompany the old man to meet those Dusi, Qianzong, and General Manager first, and we will discuss other things tomorrow." ”

"It's fine, sir, please."

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