When Qiao Songnian suppressed the Songjiang Hui Party, he found that Liu Lichuan and other chaotic parties were not only colluding with the Hui Party in Songjiang, but also with the Hui Party in Suzhou, the provincial capital, and even planned to commit chaos in Suzhou. Xu Naizhao, as the governor of Jiangsu, naturally couldn't watch the party rebel and was sitting in Suzhou to suppress it.

Gilhang'a is sitting in Jiading to deal with Zhou Lichun and other bandit leaders who have been arrested, and it is said that Ling Chi will be punished, and at the same time search for Jiading and Qingpu and other rebellious parties that have not yet been arrested, and Qiao Songnian, the prefect of Songjiang, should be in Chuansha at this time to deal with the aftermath.

All in all, attacking the county seat of Shanghai is not a trivial matter, not to mention that the soldiers outside have already connected the cities of Jiading, Qingpu, Chuansha and other cities, and they are exhausted and need to rest, even if the people are strong and the morale is high, they will have to wait for Xu Naizhao and Ji Hang'a to arrive before they can start fighting, so Xue Huan, Liu Cunhou and Hu Songlin are not in a hurry, just sit in the flower hall and listen to Wood's report on the military situation they have found these days while drinking tea.

There is good news and bad news.

The good news is that the chaotic parties in the city are not united, Liu Lichuan and Chen Alin are under the banner of Changmao, and the other is still under the banner of Damingguo, each doing their own thing. "Right Marshal" Lin Afu saw that Li Xianchi had run away with the Longxi Gang, worried that he would be oppressed if he stayed, so he also ran away with his men the evening before yesterday, and it is said that he planned to return to his hometown in Fujian by sea.

Li Shaoxi also wanted to run, probably because he was worried that the monk would not be able to run the temple, and after receiving the letter of persuasion, he had sent someone to the concession to find the chicken seller, and wanted to ask the new Jiang Customs Inspector Han Xiufeng for guilt by selling the chicken Shuang. The reason why selling chicken was captured by the chaotic party at that time was that Li Shaoxi "contributed a lot", and naturally hated Li Shaoxi who wanted to fight back again.

Han Xiufeng took into account the feelings of selling chicken, and did not dare to agree to the conditions proposed by Li Shaoxi without authorization, so he could only stabilize Li Shaoxi first, and neither agreed nor said no.

The bad news is that although there are only a few chaotic parties left in the city, such as Liu Lichuan, Chen Alin, and Pan Qiliang, and their strength is not as good as at the beginning of the rebellion, they have not been idle these days, not only recruiting many homeless local homeless people, shipwrights and sailors, and porters on the docks, but also going to the concession to buy a lot of foreign guns and cannons, and hoarding a lot of grain, grass and ammunition.

Xue Huan had learned the power of foreign guns and foreign cannons under Jiangning City, and he immediately frowned.

Liu Cunhou asked solemnly: "Zhixing, can you go and negotiate with the foreigners, so that the foreigners will stop selling guns and guns to the rebellious party?" ”

"The foreigners claim to be strictly neutral, but in fact their attitude is ambiguous, after all, Changmao believes in foreign religion like them, and the letterheads of the letters are called brothers. According to Ji Shuang, whether they should help the imperial court or help Changmao and those rebellious parties in the city are still vacillating. Han Xiufeng put down the teacup and continued: "So they are not helping each other now, and they are doing the same." ”

"So if we buy it, they'll sell it too?"

"This is natural, even if those foreign consuls don't sell, those foreign merchants will sell."

"It's a pity that we don't have any money, and it's not a trivial matter to buy a gun and a gun, not to mention that we can't be the master, even if Lord Xu wants to buy it, he has to ask the court first!"

To the surprise of the three of them, Han Xiufeng suddenly smiled and said: "The three of you can rest assured that you and I have neither the silver nor the end of our lives, but someone can." ”

"Who?"

"Selling chickens, and Sun Feng, who has just come to act for Shanghai County affairs, one is to avenge and atone for his crimes, and the other is anxious to recover Shanghai to be a proper county magistrate, and he is busy gathering gentry and businessmen to raise food and wages, recruit young and strong, buy weapons, and help the army to attack the city. This matter can be done by them, and those gentry and merchants will come forward to buy it from the foreigners. ”

"That's a good idea, but will they give us the guns when they buy them?" Hu Songlin asked eagerly.

"How can I give half of the score to three." Han Xiufeng smiled, and then said: "The reason why I dared to agree to give the three of them a month's salary is also because those gentry and businessmen in Shanghai are rich. ”

Don't look at the majesty of the troops, but in fact, they have to worry about food and salary all day long. Being a local official is different, you can not only recruit young people to train the villagers, but also justifiably solicit donations and raise wages, and even divert taxes to supplement salaries.

Xue Huanguo was afraid of the days when he was worried about food and salary all day before, and couldn't help laughing: "Zhixing, if it weren't for you, the same acquaintance, we really don't know how to live in the future!" ”

"Yes, Master Han, I will rely on you for everything in the future!" Hu Songlin also bowed his hand.

"We are both colleagues and fellow villagers, so you don't need to be polite." Han Xiufeng returned the salute, and immediately changed his words: "Just now I ordered someone to stop at the bridge, and even did not hesitate to fire a gun to warn, not only for the sake of the local people, but also for the three of them. ”

Liu Cunhou didn't expect Han Xiufeng to mention what happened just now, and he was immediately embarrassed, and he didn't know how to speak, Han Xiufeng continued: "The three of them don't know, the British, French and American consuls are worried that the concession will be affected, not only ordered their soldiers to be on standby, but also recruited expatriates to form a volunteer team, the local people are called the International Business Group, and some are called the Foreign Gun Team. And the barracks and school yards of this foreign gun team are in the racecourse on the opposite bank. ”

"Zhixing, do you mean that Surtai and Xiaohu almost fought with foreigners?" Xue Huan was taken aback.

"The foreigners don't know who Surtai and Xiaohu are, and they don't care if they are officials of the imperial court, if I don't stop them in time and let them rush into the concession, I don't know what the fight will be like at this time."

"Blame me, blame me for this, I should have thought of it a long time ago!" Xue Huan was shocked into a cold sweat.

Hu Songlin's name of "Tiger" is not for nothing, he is really not afraid of heaven and earth, every time he fights, he is the first soldier, and he can't help but say: "What's wrong with foreigners, is it possible that I will still be afraid of them!" ”

"Brother Tiger, it's not Xiufeng Changyang's ambition to destroy his prestige, if those soldiers under your command really fight with foreigners, at most a stick of incense kung fu will collapse into soldiers!"

"Master Han, are foreigners so domineering?"

"Brother Tiger, I have also led soldiers and fought with Changmao, I know a little bit about military affairs, in my opinion, foreigners are really so domineering. If you don't believe me, I'll take you tomorrow by changing into civilian clothes and taking you there. ”

"See?"

"Look at how foreigners practice, look at how tough foreigners are." Looking at his suspicious look, Han Xiufeng pointed to the big head guarding in front of the door: "The big head is strong enough, those foreigners eat meat all of a sudden, all of them are as long as the big head and three thick, and all of them are as powerful as the big head." ”

Han Xiufeng's implication couldn't be clearer, foreigners are not only sharp firearms, but they can also deal with two or three even if they are hand-to-hand combat. Hu Songlin had never seen a foreigner, and he didn't believe it was true, but he didn't dare to say it.

Xue Huan once served as the magistrate of Jinshan County, not only saw foreigners but also dealt with foreigners, and realized that so many soldiers were stationed on the edge of the concession, and one of them would fight with foreigners if he was not careful, and his face suddenly turned correct: "Two, Zhixing is not alarmist, and we can't take it seriously, we must make an appointment with those soldiers, and we must not start a war with foreigners." ”

"This matter should be sooner rather than later, three of you, let's hurry up and pass the order."

Hu Songlin didn't dare not listen to Xue Huan, and when he saw Xue Huan nodding slightly, he immediately got up and said, "I'll go and give the order." ”

……

Seeing Hu Songlin gone, the banquet was also ready, and Han Xiufeng warmly invited Xue Huan and Liu Cunhou to the table.

To have a good mood when eating and drinking, Han Xiufeng didn't mention military discipline again, Xue Huan and Liu Cunhou didn't mention military affairs again, so they talked about hometown friendship while eating.

Hearing that Han Xiufeng had bought a piece of land in the concession and was building a house, Liu Cunhou asked puzzledly: "Zhixing, what kind of property do you buy in Shanghai, so far away from Ba County, will Zhishi return to his hometown in the future?" ”

"If you can't take care of it, you have to put it aside."

"What do you mean by that?"

Han Xiufeng put down his chopsticks and said with a smile: "I only knew that foreigners were strong and good at guns, but I had never seen foreigners, and I had never even seen a few foreign goods. This time I came to Shanghai, it was really eye-opening, and I really felt like a frog at the bottom of a well. ”

"So it's better to read 10,000 books than to travel 10,000 miles." Xue Huan sighed.

"That's what I thought, cousin. I've seen it, and I've opened my eyes, but what about my baby, the children and grandchildren of my Han family, they can't be frogs at the bottom of the well! Then there were so many guilds before the fall of Shanghai, but there were no Sichuan guilds, let alone Chongqing guilds. If a fellow villager comes to Shanghai, he doesn't even have a place to stay. So after thinking about it, I still think that I should buy a house in Shanghai. ”

"Zhixing, you actually thought so much and so far away, it really deserves to be the first thing in my Chongqing Hall, please be worshiped by the foolish brother."

"What are you doing, I'm just raising my hands." Han Xiufeng pulled Liu Cunhou to sit down, and said with a smile: "After the house is built, there are fellow villagers who are officials or business in Songjiang Mansion and entrust their fellow villagers to take care of them, if there are no fellow villagers in Songjiang Mansion as officials or doing business, they will entrust the 'Rishengchang' Shanghai branch to take care of them, anyway, my baby is still young, and when he comes to Shanghai to open his eyes, it will be more than ten years later, and it is better to use it as a place for fellow villagers to stay before my baby comes to Shanghai." ”

Xue Huan is not from Ba County, and he is very envious of the people of Ba County who have such a fellow villager as Han Xiufeng, so he couldn't help but smile: "Zhixing, when you said this, I suddenly remembered that your errand was not only the acting governor of Songjiang Prefecture and the governor of Haiphong and Jiang Customs. ”

"Just these two errands!"

"Why are you just doing these two errands, you forgot, you are also the head of the Chongqing Guild Hall!"

"Yes, yes, if my cousin hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten. Zhixing, Master Huang and Master Ji said that only the deacons of our Chongqing Hall in Beijing will not have a head in the future. And the first errand of the guild hall, not to mention that the court can't take it away, it's just that you can't quit if you want to! ”

It is not easy for a person to gain so much recognition from his fellow villagers, and this can really affect his children and grandchildren. The more Xue Huan thought about it, the more he admired, and said sincerely: "Zhixing, you are an official who can be an official, I didn't expect you to be so commendable in life, and the foolish brother is envious." ”