In terms of official position and grade, Changlu Salt Transport is higher than Han Xiufeng.

However, Han Xiufeng is not only a Beijing official, but also a messenger who was ordered to inspect coastal defense, in the words of the people, he is "a third-level official", so Chonghou must come to visit according to the rules.

They are all people who came out of the "Houyi Hall", but they have never seen them before, let alone dealt with them. But with Eunjun here, the two didn't feel separated, and got down to business after a few pleasantries.

"Brother Han, the emperor can be regarded as sending you! I'm not afraid of my brother's jokes, the foolish brother is frightened, and when he received the news of Xiyi's invasion of Guangzhou, he hasn't slept a few times, and he can't sleep all night! ”

"Three shocks a day?" Han Xiufeng asked with a wry smile.

"So sometimes the less you know, the better." Chonghou sighed lightly, put down the teacup and said worriedly: "Ye Mingchen can't be the master, and he doesn't dare to make his own decisions, Xiyi will come sooner or later." But on the north and south banks of Dagukou, there are four forts built by Daoguang in 20 years, and there are more than 1,000 green battalion soldiers and more than 40 rusty iron cannons. ”

Han Xiufeng can understand his mood at this moment, because once Xiyi's gunboat breaks into Dagukou, before the Governor of Zhili, the political envoy of Zhili and the reinforcements from the Beijing camp arrive, the emperor will definitely order him, the salt transportation envoy, to take charge of coastal defense, and at that time, he can neither meet with Xiyi without authorization, let alone privately allow Xiyi to put forward any conditions, and he can also not take advantage of Xiyi's foothold to catch Xiyi off guard, so he can only sit and wait for Xiyi to shoot first and then shoot back.

Not to mention whether he can win the battle if he loses the opportunity, even if he can call the shots and start fighting at any time, he can grasp the opportunity, and the two battalions of soldiers relying on the Dagu Association are not Xiyi's opponents.

Thinking of this, Han Xiufeng asked in a low voice: "Brother Dishan, the emperor has issued orders more than once to order the general soldiers of Tianjin Town to be on guard, why is he still so lax?" ”

Speaking of this lofty stomach, he was depressed, and said helplessly: "My brother doesn't know, the first two chief military officers were acting, and the longest worked for less than a year, and the same is true for the deputy general of the Dagu Association." The current chief military officer and the deputy general of the Dagu Association are not even acting, but nursing. I don't know how many days this official can do, how can they have the heart to train soldiers and horses to strengthen coastal defense. ”

"It's going to change too often."

"It's like a marquee, it's really an iron-clad official of the yamen."

"What about Ulkhun, what are Ulkhun busy with?" Han Xiufeng thought about it and asked.

He didn't have any scruples with Han Xiufeng, and said bluntly: "The emperor ordered him to act as the chief Lu Yanzheng, not just let him supervise the chief Lu Yan. But he didn't care about Haiphong, he only knew how to stare at the salt tax, and only knew how to purchase tribute and Zhang Luo to make offerings. A lot of tributes could not be procured in Tianjin, and even sent people to Suzhou and Hangzhou to procure them a few days ago. ”

The imperial court had already issued an edict exempting the contributions from various places, but the Changlu Salt Transportation Division, the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Division, Jiangning Weaving, Suzhou Weaving and other yamen were not among them.

According to the routine, Changlu Yanzheng has to attack four times a year, namely the New Year's Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the emperor's birthday and the empress dowager's birthday, and the tributes are mainly silk, jade, porcelain, furniture, etc.; In addition to these four regular tributes, there are also seven or eight times a year to offer antiques, birds, flowers, fruits, food, etc. Some of the tributes are fixed, such as 40 cages of birds and 5 barrels of bergamot in April every year.

The emperor receives a lot of offerings every year, but in fact he only glances at the list of tributes, and sometimes he doesn't even look at them, let alone use them. Those tributes that were purchased for a large sum of money were said to have been registered and entered into the treasury of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but in fact they all ended up in the homes of officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and even officials.

Ulkhon came out of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it is impossible not to know this, but he still regards the sacrifice as the top priority, which shows that he is a "good official".

Thinking that Jinxian was indeed a big deal, Han Xiufeng really didn't know what to say, so he simply changed the subject: "Brother Dishan, in fact, you don't have to worry about these things. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it, if Xiyi really attacks on a large scale, can it be resisted by relying on these four batteries on both sides of the Dagu Pass and by relying on the two battalions of the Dagu Association? In other words, if there is a war, it depends on reinforcements! ”

"The Dagu Association is like this, and the supervision and town standards are not necessarily much better."

"I can't count on the direct subordinate superintendent, promotion and town standard, isn't there still a Beijing camp and a Mongolian horse team." Han Xiufeng smiled, and continued: "It is said that there will be a nest of bears. Whether it's the Green Camp or the Eight Banners, the reason why it is abolished is that I think this problem is at the root. As long as you change the person who commands the army and find a way to get the food and salary, I estimate that you will still be able to fight with Xiyi. ”

"Brother Han, do you mean Monk Greenqin?"

"Now I can only count on the monk king, he is not idle in the capital, as long as he is free, he will go to Nanyuan to train the horse team. What's more, the emperor is not unprepared at all, otherwise he would not have ordered Xiufeng to inspect coastal defense. ”

"But what's the use of just patrolling!"

"It's useful, it's useful." Han Xiufeng took a sip of tea and patiently explained: "Let's put it this way, the monk king is stepping up the training of soldiers and horses in the capital, and I am here to fight the front station." Fighting a war is about the right time, place and people, and there are many things to do next. ”

"What are you doing?" Chonghou asked subconsciously.

"The map of the Ministry of War is still from the Qianlong Dynasty, so many years have passed, the stars have changed, and the vicissitudes of life have changed, and it would be child's play to rely on the map of the army to march and fight at that time. Therefore, we not only have to quickly redraw a map, but also have to gather people to measure whether the direction of the Haihe River has changed, how wide the river is and how deep the water is, especially the topography and water potential of Dagukou and Beitang. ”

Looking at the thoughtful look, Han Xiufeng said again: "Before I came, I had consulted a lot of official documents about Dagukou, and several of them mentioned that there was a barrage outside Dagukou, 'the flat water is only two feet, the tide is more than two feet deep, and it will fall when it rises'." Three years ago, when the Yi chieftain Bao Ling came, those 'small military planes' in the Military Aircraft Department had checked it, and even used this as a basis to tell several military aircraft ministers that with this barrage of sand in the river, Xiyi's artillery ships would not be able to enter. ”

Chonghou had never led troops to fight, so he really didn't know or understand this, so he couldn't help asking: "Is there such a barrage?" ”

"Yes, I went to see it in the afternoon, and I also asked the fishermen nearby."

"Can you stop Xiyi's gunboats?"

"I haven't measured the depth of the water at high tide and low tide, but according to the fishermen, it should be able to stop the big boat with dozens of cannons at low tide, but it must not be able to stop the small gunboat in Xiyi." Han Xiufeng touched the corners of his mouth, and said helplessly: "Now it is not as good as Daoguang for twenty years, Xiyi's gunboats and gunboats no longer sail by the wind, and now they are all steam ships. It doesn't matter if there is a wind or not, whether the wind is favorable to them or not. ”

"So that barrage is useless?"

"Useful, at least to stop the cannon boats."

Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and then said: "The river is wide and narrow, the water depth is several feet and feet, when the tide rises and falls every day, and whether the southeast wind blows or the southwest wind usually blows, all of these have to be figured out quickly; The topography of both sides of Dagukou and Beitang must be surveyed clearly, so that the forts can be repaired and strengthened according to local conditions, so that the walls of the forts can be repaired and trenches dug under the forts; Then we must plan for the worst in everything, and we must survey the waterways and land routes from Dagukou and Beitang to Tianjin and even Tongzhou, where it is easy to go, where it is not easy to go, where it can be intercepted, where it can be fortified, we have to have a number in our hearts! ”

Chonghou finally understood why the emperor valued the one in front of him, and finally understood why the emperor ordered the one in front of him to inspect the coastal defense, thinking of such a young man in front of him who had not only dealt with Xiyi but also fought in the Taifu Temple, and the monk who was waiting in the capital for the rest of the year, he suddenly felt that if he really fought with Xiyi, he would not necessarily lose, and couldn't help asking: "What do you need me to do?" ”

"Since Brother Dishan has opened this mouth, Xiufeng will not be polite to you," Han Xiufeng took a copy of the draft charter from the desk and handed it to him: "Write everything that should be done on it, I don't know how long it will take Brother Dishan to finish?" ”

Chonghou didn't dare to make a military order easily, so he took the list and looked at it carefully, and estimated it for a while before he looked up and said, "It will take three months at the earliest." ”

"Three months is three months, but you have to investigate carefully."

"Don't worry, brother, I will send a reliable person to do it."

……

Seeing off the Changlu salt transport envoy Chonghou, there are invitations to Changlu Salt Zheng Wule Hong'e and Tianjin Dao Yingyu.

Before he came, he found out their details, and with these two mediocre officials who only knew how to make money, Han Xiufeng really had nothing to say. After a perfunctory greeting with them for a while, he accepted the two stacks of silver tickets they gave him, and served tea to the guests.

Seeing Yue Keqing'a, the chief soldier of Tianjin Town, and the vice general of the nursing Dagu Association, who knelt down to ask for guilt as soon as he entered the door, Han Xiufeng was not so easy to speak, not only did he not let them get up to speak, but he also gritted his teeth and scolded angrily with a gloomy face: "Yue Keqing, Yu Shuangfu, before I came, the emperor also mentioned you to my official, saying that the Ministry of War asked for a vacancy, and ordered this official to inspect the coastal defense by the way to see how your errand was doing, if everything is true, I will ask for approval, but you are so lax, you are simply derelict in your duties, I think this lack of you is ** can't make up for it. ”

"Your Excellency, forgive your sins, and be humble...... I really don't know that the adults came to inspect the coastal defense to miss the distance. ”

"It's nonsense, is this a matter of welcoming the official or not, it's simply unreasonable!"

"The lowly position is confused, the lowly position is unobtrusive, and the lowly position cannot speak......"

Yu Shuangfu begged for mercy, climbed in front of Han Xiufeng, and took out a stack of silver tickets that had been prepared earlier: "Lord Han, this is a little bit of a humble heart, please raise your noble hand and spare the humble position, the humble position Ming'er will gather the left and right battalions to practice early in the morning......"

Han Xiufeng really didn't know what they, the chief military officer and deputy general, were doing, thinking that they were nursing, and it was not them who really relied on them to guard Dagukou, so he simply took the silver ticket and put it aside, and said with hatred: "Since you are guilty, then the official will open the net and give you a chance to atone for your sins, and start practicing from Ming'er." If you dare to put knives and guns into the warehouse and put the horses in Nanshan, don't blame the official for being ruthless! ”

"Master Xie. Master Xie raises his noble hand! ”

"It's getting late, let's go back quickly."

"Huh."

Driving away the two straw bales, Yongxiang, who hadn't seen him for more than three years, walked in with Eunjun, and when he saw Han Xiufeng, he poured bitter water with a handful of snot and tears.

"Okay, okay, a big man, crying and crying, and I'm not afraid of others hearing jokes." Han Xiufeng motioned to Enjun to bring the handkerchief, let him wipe his face, and then beckoned him to drink tea, while saying bluntly: "I reminded you back then, Brother Bochuan reminded you, and Zhonghua also reminded you more than once, asking you not to get too close to Lianshun, you just don't believe it, you have to go to him, who can blame you for being like this?" ”

Yongxiang was speechless, hanging his head and not daring to squeak.

Han Xiufeng sighed secretly, and continued: "Before I came, Bo Chuan and Zhong Hua also mentioned you, saying that it was purely expedient for you and Brother Dishan to come to Tianjin to serve. Thinking about it, he neither led the troops in the Dutong Yamen nor did he have a part-time job, so he couldn't carry him if he wanted to, so he could only let you run errands in the Yunsi Yamen first. ”

"Fourth master, don't say it, I'm here to blame."

"Just giving up on yourself?" Han Xiufeng asked rhetorically, and then changed his words: "Since you're here, don't leave, follow me in the future." ”

Yongxiang froze, and when he saw that Enjun was giving him a look, he reacted, and hurriedly got up and said: "Fourth Master Xie carries, Fourth Master Xie takes care of it, I know that Fourth Master you are a person who misses the old!" ”

"Okay, okay, it's all said that it's your own person, why bother to do this." Han Xiufeng picked up a pre-prepared official document from the desk, thought about it and counted a few more silver tickets that had just been collected, and handed them to him: "But don't want to enjoy leisure with me, you have been in Tianjin for a while, and you are more familiar with the local area than me, so these errands can only be handed over to you." ”

"Fourth master, what are you talking about, I don't want to enjoy leisure, I'm afraid there is no errand!"