The letter that Han Xiufeng asked Yu Youfu to bring back was mainly to report safety, and the Taiping bandits' invasion of Jiangning and even Yangzhou was just a passing touch. As for the more than 10,000 taels of silver remitted back, it was the proceeds of the sale of the merit salt seized by the investigation of smugglers, so that one thousand taels could be kept, one hundred taels for the father and mother who were far away in the countryside, and one hundred taels for each of the three elder brothers.

Duan Jiqing looked up at Guan Bantou, and then said: "Lao Guan, not only did Zhixing not forget you, but also those uncles in the yamen who had taken care of him before, let me take out the silver and give you 1,500 taels, 500 taels are yours, and the remaining 1,000 taels are entrusted to you to help divide them, saying that he has an account there." ”

Zhuzi couldn't help but smile and said: "It's that before the fourth brother went to the capital to surrender, the big guy helped to make up the accounts." ”

"If you don't say it, I almost can't remember it, it seems that there is an account, and it seems that Wang Jingcheng helped remember it." Guan Bantou thought about it and sighed: "The fourth baby is also really, he is so busy with official business, so far away from home, and he still keeps us in mind." Looking at so many babies who have grown up over the years, there are four babies who are the most promising! ”

"This is the grace of a drop of water, and it should be reciprocated by a spring." Duan Jiqing smiled, and then said: "Zhuzi, your fourth brother hasn't forgotten you, but the silver won't be given to you, he said in the letter, let me help you build a small courtyard, let your sister-in-law help your sister buy a dowry, and after you get married, don't live next door to the coffin shop, live in another place, and settle down again." ”

"Thank you for your success." The pillar grinned.

"You don't need to thank me, if you want to thank you, thank your fourth brother, thank you sister-in-law."

"Yes, yes, you're always right, thank you, sister-in-law."

"Okay, okay, what are you doing by yourself," Qin'er smiled, and looked at Duan Jiqing with the baby in her arms.

"How to spend the rest of the silver, Zhixing also said in the letter," Duan Jiqing took a sip of tea, held the letter again, and said: "Zhixing said that this courtyard is too small now, and if there is a suitable one, change it." If you change to a bigger house, there is still some silver left, so you will go to Jiangbei to buy dozens of acres of land. ”

Qin'er asked with a bitter face: "Dad, this yard is very good, and it is not small, why do you want to change it?" ”

"If you put it aside in the past, you naturally don't need to change it, but now it's not as good as before, and it's really not okay to change a bigger house."

"Why isn't it the same as before?"

Duan Jiqing looked back at Yu Youfu, then looked at his daughter and said with a smile: "Qin'er, there is something I haven't told you, if I don't tell you, I am afraid that you will worry, and second, the official document of the imperial court has not yet arrived, and the official document has not arrived, and the city will be full of wind and rain before the official document arrives." ”

Qin'er asked eagerly, "What the hell is going on?" ”

"Zhixing has been promoted," Duan Jiqing looked back at Yu Youfu and Zhang Shiheng with a smile and said, "Blessed, not long after you and Young Master Shiheng and Ambassador Han's family set off from Yangzhou, the Taiping bandits captured Jiangning and planned to divide their troops to invade Yangzhou. Taizhou seems to be not far from Yangzhou, and I don't know if there is no one under Taizhou Zhengtang, so I asked Zhixing to donate a top belt from the six products, and ensure that Zhixing is acting in the state. ”

"And then?" Zhang Shiheng asked eagerly.

Later, the Taiping bandits really occupied Yangzhou, and Zhixing led a thousand villagers to a place called Wanfuqiao to intercept it, not only blocking the bandits, but also keeping Taizhou, and killing more than 400 bandits, which is a great victory! As soon as the saint was happy, he sent Zhixing from the top of the five products and specially awarded Zhixing to be the deputy envoy of the two Huai Salt Transportation Divisions. ”

Qin'er was terrified when she heard this, and couldn't help asking: "Dad, so the fourth brother is leading the troops to fight now?" ”

"I have led soldiers to fight, but only this time at Wanfu Bridge. Now he is a salt official from Wupin, and he doesn't need to lead troops to fight anymore. The son-in-law was promoted to become rich, Duan Jiqing was the happiest, thought about it and put down the letter and said with a smile: "Two Huaiyun Vice, that is the fattest shortage in the world, if you can do it for three or five years, you can earn 350,000 taels at least!" ”

When the four babies set off from Hai'an, they were still nine products for inspection, but they didn't expect that it had only been two months, and the four babies had already been from the five products, Yu Youfu felt like he was in a dream, and asked suspiciously: "Duan Jingcheng, how do you know these things?" ”

"Isn't Yangzhou occupied by bandits, the 'Rishengchang' Yangzhou branch naturally can't be reopened, and the big shopkeeper of the head office doesn't know where he heard that there is a guy in the Beijing branch who has a relationship with Zhixing, so he sent that guy to Taizhou to prepare for the branch, and the guy naturally wants to visit the hall before leaving from the capital."

"I know this, it must be Xiao Wuzi."

"Anyway, no matter how rich and wealthy he is, but if he wants to go to Taizhou to do foreign exchange trading, he has to ask Zhixing to take care of him, so as soon as there is news of his ambition, the Beijing branch will tell us the Ba County branch, and let the shopkeeper of the Ba County branch tell me." Duan Jiqing paused, and said with a smile: "I have received two pieces of news in the past half a month, one is the news that Zhixing has become a Shangzhou Tong and led a thousand towns to win a big victory. One is that the Holy Grace is allowed to act as the envoy of the two Huai salt transports, Guo Peilin, Guo Daren, and Qin Zhi Xing is from the top of the five products, and the news of the two Huai Yun deputies is specially granted. ”

Guan Bantou knows the inside story, and has been helping to inquire these days, and can't help adding: "Zhixing's promotion is the same as that of Ao Juren, the imperial court will send a document to our Sichuan Taiwan Yamen, and the Taiwan Yamen will give it to the Provincial Administration, and the Provincial Administration will give it to the government office, and the government will then transfer it to our Ba County County Ya, and the county magistrate will register." ”

"What's the note?" Qin'er asked curiously.

"It is necessary to indicate on the household register of the household, how many products of the official residence are now, and what the official residence is. If you don't give the county government a message, how can the county master know this, and if you meet my dog in the future, how can you treat each other politely? ”

"My baby is still young!"

"I'm just making an analogy, let's put it this way, as soon as the official document of the imperial court arrives, this is the home of the official eunuch! Zhixing's father is far away in the countryside, and I am the father-in-law in the city, and I Duan Jiqing can be the head of the family, although I am not a gentry, but at least I am also a squire. Even if I go to the government office, the government will have to give me some face, let alone go to the county office! ”

Qin'er never thought that Wa's father would really become a big official, and she was happy, but she was not as happy as Duan Jiqing and the others, and asked absentmindedly: "Has the official document of the court arrived?" ”

"Coincidentally, like Youfu and Young Master Zhang, they also arrived in the morning." Duan Jiqing put down the letter, held the teacup and said, "The Provincial Office that arrived in the morning will be able to arrive at the county office tomorrow afternoon at the latest." But we can't wait until tomorrow, this yard has to be cleaned up today. ”

"What are you doing to clean up the yard, and invite someone to eat and drink?" Qin'er asked in a low voice.

"Not invited this time," Duan Jiqing waved his hand and smiled proudly: "In the past, the Zhixing officials were small, and if you want to raise your eyebrows, you can only ask those masters to save face." It's different now, Zhixing is such a big official, we don't need to talk to those people anymore, only those people to do our part. ”

"Then you still have to clean up the yard."

"Let the yard be cleaned up, it is the official document of the imperial court, as soon as it arrives at the county office, the county lord will personally come to congratulate him."

Duan Xu only knew that his son-in-law had been promoted, but he didn't know how big this official was, so he couldn't help asking: "The county master has to come to the door in person, so the official of the dog and his father is bigger than the county master?" ”

"This is natural, our Jiangbei Tongzhi in Chongqing Mansion knows whether you know it, Zhixing's current official is about the same as that of Tongzhi Master. Moreover, the top belt of Zhixing is given by the emperor, and the official position is specially granted by the emperor, which is a great grace and a great glory! Not to mention our Chongqing Mansion, even if it is the entire East Sichuan Province, even the whole of Sichuan, we can't find a few! ”

Thinking that the man who thought about it day and night had really become a big official, Qin'er muttered: "Dad, I want to take the dog to go on a trip." ”

Duan Jiqing was stunned, and immediately reacted: "Yes, yes, yes, it's time to go to Magang." Zhixing official documents are busy and can't come back, we don't help with this glorious ancestor's affairs, who will help handle it? But I have to wait a few days, and wait for my father to finish the matter in front of me and send you two away. ”

"I miss my mother too, and I'm homesick too." My sister blurted out her debut.

"I'm going to go together!" Guan Bantou got up and said with a smile: "Duan Jingcheng, you estimate that you will be able to leave one day, set a date, and I will go to the yamen to take leave on a fixed day." ”

In Duan Jiqing's eyes, Zhang Shiheng was not only a young offspring, but also a pile of white silver, weighed it and got up and said: "It depends on how long it takes to finish the matter in front of you." Otherwise, you should prepare first, it is rare to go to relatives, not to mention that this time you are going to go to the horse to set up wine, how to go if you are not ready. ”

"What do you need to prepare?" Qin'er asked eagerly.

"Prepare more things that are not available in the countryside, don't be reluctant to spend money, and don't worry about too many things and don't carry them, it's a big deal to hire a few more porters when the time comes."

Zhuzi raised his head and smiled: "Sister-in-law, leave this matter to me, I know what is in the countryside." ”

"Okay, you watch the preparation, and I'll get you the money later."

As soon as Qin'er's words fell, Duan Jiqing looked at Zhang Shiheng and said with a smile: "Shiheng, it's a coincidence, your father happened to come to our Ba County with Wu Daotai a few days ago, and he stayed at the Huguang Guild Hall not far from the county government. ”

"Master Duan, my father is in Ba County?"

"What are you lying about?"

"I thought my dad was in Chengdu!"

"The Yancha Ceremony Yamen is in Chengdu, and they are here for business this time, and I heard that they are raising money for the peaceful chaos in Jiangsu. I know how many years you haven't seen your father, let's go, I'll accompany you to find your father! ”

"Master Xie Duan, Master Xie Duan!"

"If a family doesn't say a word, they don't need to be so polite." Duan Jiqing patted Zhang Shiheng's arm, his eyes were full of kindness, and he really thought he was Zhang Shiheng's elder if he couldn't figure it out.

Sichuan has the same salt farm, but Lianghuai produces sea salt, and Sichuan produces well salt. Moreover, the imperial court did not set up a salt transportation department in Sichuan, and the Sichuan salt administration has always been concurrently served by the governor of Sichuan, and the salt affairs have always been handled by the salt tea ceremony. It is said that the two Huai salt envoys are the fattest in the world, but in fact, the Sichuan salt tea ceremony is as fat, but it is not as famous as the two Huai salt envoys.

It is precisely because the salt tea ceremony holds the power of salt tea trading that Wu Wenxi was invited to stay in the Huguang Hall by the Eight Provinces Gang as soon as he arrived in Ba County. But now it's different, Yu Youfu not only helped Wu Wenxi's friend Zhang Dejian bring his son, but also brought the news of Yizhen's Wu family, which is a great favor!

Guan Bantou reacted and hurriedly said, "Duan Jingcheng, Young Master Zhang, I'll show you the way." ”

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