In the past half month, Han Xiufeng has never been so comfortable.

When I came back from Wanfu Bridge, I passed through Taizhou and didn't enter the city, and rushed to Hai'an non-stop, and was pulled by Dean Gu, Yu Qinghuai and Wang Qianli and other gentry to drink for three days, and was taken to the corner by Han Chen to see the sea, eat seafood, and today I came to the new home of the Taiba coolies to see how they settled, until Han Chen's cousin Han Bo chased after him and said that Zhou Xingyuan, who had planned to stay outside Yangzhou to try his luck, and Su Jueming, who had been sent to Qingjiangpu to inquire about the news, came to return to the Yamen of the Salt Division.

No matter how down-and-out Zhou Xingyuan is, he is also a person, not to mention that he has been a magistrate, Han Chen treats him politely, and is sitting in the flower hall to drink tea and talk with Zhou Xingyuan, Su Jueming does not dare to be presumptuous in front of the official master, and stands aside honestly.

As soon as he saw Han Xiufeng, Han Chen got up and said with a smile: "Zhixing, sit down, Mr. Zhou has been waiting for you for a long time!" ”

"Brother Zhou has been waiting for a long time, guilty of sin." Han Xiufeng arched his hand, looked at Su Jueming, who wanted to speak and stopped, then sat down and asked with a smile: "Brother Zhou, Lord Qishan is not the short-lived ghost of Lu Jianying, he is now holding a heavy army, and the saint is thick, if you can get a job with Lord Qishan, it is not difficult to think of it, why did you come to our poor mountain and remote land?" ”

"It's hard to say, it's hard to say!" Zhou Xingyuan waved his hand, looking embarrassed.

"Zhixing, Mr. Zhou came from so far to see you, what are you talking about." Han Chen couldn't help but laugh and scolded.

Zhou Xingyuan hurriedly said: "It's okay, it's okay, Brother Yuzhi doesn't know, I and Zhixing are not only old friends, but also friendships, there is nothing that can't be said." ”

After hiding for so long, Han Xiufeng wanted to know the battle situation in Yangzhou, and even more wanted to know why Zhishi's affairs were not accurate, so he hurriedly said: "Brother Zhou, Jiaoxiao is too far away from Yangzhou, and we haven't sent family members over there, the news is very blocked, can you tell one or two?" ”

"Your hearts are so big, you don't care at all." Zhou Xingyuan looked at the curious looks of the two, and said like a few family treasures: "Lord Qishan and the cabinet scholar Sheng Bao, who assisted in the camp affairs, are stationed in the northwest of Yangzhou City, and the criminal department who assists in the camp affairs is stationed in the Fairy Temple, and Chen Jinshou, a veteran who has recruited to return to Xinjiang, is stationed in the area of Daqiao Town, and the bandits who are stationed in the city are surrounded on three sides. ”

Han Chen thought that the imperial army would attack the city as soon as it arrived, and thought that Yangzhou would be recovered early, so he asked with an incredulous face: "Although Lord Qi has just arrived, but the bandits have not yet gained a stable foothold, why didn't he attack the city, why did he recover Yangzhou in one go?" ”

"As far as I know, Lord Lei and Lord Shengbao also think the same way, they have said several times that 'the city is broken in a hurry', but Lord Qi thinks that it should be 'serious', saying that the camp has just been built, and it is difficult to coordinate without learning the battle formation. said that I have been peaceful in the Qing Dynasty for a long time, and the soldiers no longer have the courage to kill, so I plan to delay a few days and let the soldiers of the Eight Banners Green Battalion under my command intercept and kill the spies first, so as to strengthen their courage. ”

"It's a good weight, it's clearly a cowardice!"

"Brother Yuzhi, you haven't seen it, if you have seen it, you won't think so, the bandits have been prepared, they actually built a three-layer wooden wall outside the moat, and dug many traps outside the wall, and there are only 10,000 soldiers under the command of Lord Qi who can really fight, but there are tens of thousands of bandits in the city, and this city is not easy to attack." Zhou Xingyuan thought about it and looked at Han Xiufeng and said: "Brother Zhixing has fought with bandits, how difficult it is for bandits to deal with, Brother Zhixing knows best. ”

"Bandits are not easy to deal with," Han Xiufeng nodded, thought about it and said with a wry smile: "Whether it is the besieged city or the defender of the city, in my opinion, they are all rat trappers." When Lord Qi rushed to the outside of Yangzhou City, if he made a strong attack, it would not be impossible to recover Yangzhou. If the bandits took advantage of Lord Qi's unstable foothold to go out of the city to face the battle, it was not impossible to defeat the more than 10,000 troops of the imperial court. ”

"The brave wins?" Han Chen asked subconsciously.

"Well, the strength is equal, isn't it just ruthless." Han Xiufeng sighed lightly, thought about it and asked: "Brother Zhou, the recovery of Yangzhou is the matter of the minister, we can't control it and don't want to, we just want to know who has the final say in Jiangsu now." ”

"Yes, yes, that's the right thing!" Han Chen thought so.

"It stands to reason that the governor of Liangjiang is the largest, but the new governor of Liangjiang, Yiliang, is stationed in Changzhou, and he can't manage the affairs of Jiangnan, let alone Jiangbei; After Yang Wending was taken from office, the imperial court ordered Wu Tang to act, but he didn't have time to take office, so he could only be charged by Lianying, and he didn't know whether he was really sick or fake, and he never took office. Then there is Ni Liangyao, and now he is acting cabinet scholar Xu Naizhao. ”

Zhou Xingyuan paused, and then said: "Yang Dianbang was dismissed by the imperial court as soon as he ran to Qingjiangpu, and the current governor of Caoyun is the acting governor of Jiangsu who has just arrived. ”

"Lord Cha is also stationed in Qingjiangpu?" Han Xiufeng asked subconsciously.

Without waiting for Zhou Xingyuan to speak, Su Jueming, who had never dared to interject, couldn't help but say: "Master Han, Master Cha was appointed as an envoy from Gansu and was urgently transferred from the imperial court to Jiangsu as an envoy. He went to visit Master Cha, but he didn't expect that Lord Cha not only knew about you, but also asked Master Liu to bring you a letter, Master Liu was in a hurry to go to Jiangning, and handed it over to the little one along with the letter from the capital, so that the little one could bring it to you. ”

"If you have a letter, why didn't you say it earlier!"

"A few of you are talking, and the little ones are afraid to speak."

"Hurry up and get it."

"Oh."

Su Jueming hurriedly took out a stack of letters from the package, Han Xiufeng smiled apologetically, and read them one by one in front of everyone.

There are letters from the old father-in-law who brought them to the guild hall by the people who went to Beijing to take the exam, there are letters from Huang Zhongyin, Ji Yunfei, and He Heng, there are letters from the shopkeeper Wen to report on the affairs of the guild hall, there are letters from fellow villagers Liu Cunhou who have never met before, and then there is the letter from Liu Cunhou, the new acting chief inspector of Caoyun in Jiangsu.

Han Chen didn't expect Han Xiufeng to have a relationship with Master Cha, and he kept forcibly saying that Han Xiufeng asked eagerly after reading it: "Zhixing, what did Master Cha say in the letter?" ”

"This letter was not written to me by Lord Cha, but was given to me by our fellow countryman, Lord Duan, the political envoy of Gansu Province," Han Xiufeng put down the letter and sighed: "Lord Duan treats me like a nephew, and he still remembers me in Gansu, and when he saw off Lord Cha, he specially asked Lord Cha to take more care after he arrived." ”

"It turned out to be Lord Duan's letter, hey, I, Han Chen, am also from Chongqing Mansion, but I haven't had the opportunity to meet Lord Duan until today."

"They are all fellow villagers, and there will be opportunities in the future." Han Xiufeng put down the letter and said solemnly: "There is also bad news, Jiayue said in the letter that Master Gu went to Layue Immortal last year, and the old man left very suddenly, and there was no warning beforehand. Without Master Gu's support, there would be no me Han Xiufeng today, I only knew that he had been an old man for more than three months, and I couldn't even go to his old man's grave to pay respects, thinking about it, I was really ashamed of his old man's soul in the sky. ”

"Zhixing, don't be like this, loyalty and filial piety can't be done both since ancient times, don't say that Master Gu, who has the grace of knowing and encountering, is gone, even if it ...... Even if someone in the family dies, those of us who are officials outside will not be able to go back for a while. ”

"Yes, Brother Han, who made us unable to help ourselves, we can only mourn."

"Alas, how can this be," Han Xiufeng sighed, and then said: "Then I sent my family to the capital and found Huang Yushi and Master Ji, who led the troops outside, and there was some criticism, and I wanted to ask the officials in Beijing to help pay attention to the movements in the court and help with the activities." ”

"We are soft-spoken, and we are not Beijing officials, so we can't help."

"Huang Yushi and Master Ji don't want us to do anything to help the Xiang, but they are worried about our safety, so if we encounter any difficulties, we will go to the Xiang, Xiang, who is a fellow villager, and he will definitely take him in."

Han Chen has been "lonely" all these years, looking at the stack of letters in Han Xiufeng's hand, he couldn't help but sigh: "It's different to have fellow villagers and not to have fellow villagers!" ”

"Yes, this reminds me of what Master Gu said before going to the capital."

"What did Master Gu say?"

"When you go out, you pay attention to the friendship of the country."

Zhou Xingyuan was very envious of them, and said sourly: "It seems that I have to find my fellow villagers too." ”

"Brother Zhou, there are more of your countrymen than our countrymen, not to mention far away, there are several in Yangzhou Mansion, such as Xu Ying, the general arrest of the Qing army, who is from Huangpi, Hubei."

"Go to Xu Ying, Brother Han, don't be joking, you have offended others to death, he knows that you and I have a relationship, so he won't treat me!"

"Brother Zhou, you can eat randomly, you can't talk nonsense, I haven't offended him, it's Zhang Zhigao, Li Changjing, and those civil and military officials in Taizhou City who are greedy for life and afraid of death."

"Do you think Xu Ying is a fool?" Zhou Xingyuan couldn't help but laugh.

Han Xiufeng couldn't help laughing, thinking about it and asking curiously: "By the way, where is Xu Ying going now, what are you busy with?" ”

"He went to the Fairy Temple, not only Lei Yicheng, who helped with the camp affairs, was stationed in the Fairy Temple, but the new Yangzhou Prefect, Jiangdu Zhixian County, Ganquan Zhixian and Yizhen Zhixian were all stationed in the Fairy Temple, and he was naturally not too far away from the government as the Tongzhi of Yangzhou Mansion."

"Who is the new prefect?"

"Fu Zhu Lang, Manchurian Zheng White Flag Prisoner." Zhou Xingyuan paused, and said again: "The new Jiangdu magistrate is surnamed Li, his name is Huide, and he is from a good background; The new Ganquan magistrate is surnamed Xie and is called Xie Fanqing; Du Yansen, who was dismissed and investigated a few years ago, didn't know whose way he went, not only reinstated, but also continued to be Yi Zhenzhi County. ”

"Yizhen has been occupied by bandits, what does this county master do."

"Brother Han, when it comes to Yizhen, I think of something, didn't Zhang Yiguo say before that Huang Desheng, the Yizhen guard of the Taiping bandits, wanted to surrender, eighty percent of the news was leaked, and the report said that Huang Desheng was beheaded a few days ago, and the current bandit guard is surnamed Wu, called Wu Xiaoru."

"I know that this surnamed Huang is very difficult to do!"

As soon as Han Xiufeng's voice fell, Zhou Xingyuan continued: "The new Jiangning political envoy is surnamed Chen, called Chen Qimai, Daoguang has been a jinshi for 18 years, and he has been a political envoy of Zhili, stationed in Xuzhou, and handles the grain and Taiwan affairs of the Jiangbei official army. Huaiyang Road is still Cao Wenzhao, and it is still stationed in Qingjiangpu. ”

As a salt official, Han Chen couldn't help asking, "Who is the new Yun Division?" ”

"Guo Peilin, I just arrived before I came, wasn't Yangzhou occupied by bandits, he could only move to Taizhou, and the Yunsi Yamen was located in the Tianhou Temple not far from the state yamen."

This is the real backer, Han Xiufeng couldn't help but smile and said: "Lord Guo is finally here, Brother Zhou, why didn't you say it earlier!" ”

"Do you recognize the new Lianghuai Salt Transporter?"

"Don't just recognize it, hahaha! Brother Yuzhi, with Master Guo here, don't say that it will soon change from acting to actual teaching, even if you want to go to Fuanchang to be an ambassador, it is not difficult! ”

"Zhixing, you really have a friendship with Lord Guo, can you really talk to Lord Guo?" Han Chen asked eagerly.

"Lord Guo and Lord Duan are the same year, when they are in the capital, they often go to our Chongqing Hall, and I also go to Lord Guo's mansion, and I even almost came to Jiangsu with Lord Guo to take office a year ago, and his family members are none of them I don't recognize."

"Great, great!" That is the top boss of the top boss, Han Chen didn't want to delay for a moment, and immediately got up and said: "Han Bo, Guozheng, hurry up and prepare a generous gift, and prepare another thousand taels of silver, I will go to Taizhou later!" ”

"Yuyuki, what's the hurry?"

"I don't know what's wrong, I know that Master Guo is in Taizhou, can I not be in a hurry? Not only will I go later, but you will also go! ”

"I'm not going!"

"How can you not go, who will introduce me if you don't go?"

"I'm injured and have difficulty moving, if I go to Taizhou with you like this, it will be troublesome to be seen as pretending, how can I tell my illness when the time comes, and why will I go back to my hometown?"

"This is easy to do, I'll ask Lang Zhong to help your legs with a wooden plank, and then help you make two crutches, anyway, it's a boat, and you don't need to walk. When you arrive in Taizhou, you can hire a sedan chair. ”

Thinking that it was really not good not to go to the meeting, Han Xiufeng smiled: "Okay, let Han Bo and Guozheng help me prepare a generous gift by the way." No, prepare two, not only do I have to prepare two, but you also have to prepare two! ”

"Who else is it for?" Han Chen asked puzzled.

"To the new governor," Han Xiufeng explained with a smile: "You haven't heard of Fu Zhulang, I'm like thunder, and he is half a fellow countryman with us." ”

"He's full, why is he half of our countrymen?" The more Han Chen listened, the more confused he became.

Han Xiufeng smiled proudly: "Fuzhu Lang Ah once served as our Chongqing Prefecture Jiangbei Tongzhi, and the stone city of the eight gates of Jiangbei Hall City was built by him when he was the Tongzhi and summoned local gentry, cabinet subordinates, and grain households to donate 38,500 taels of silver. Your hometown is Dazu, and you don't go to Ba County much when you are in your hometown, and it's normal if you don't know. I'm different from you, I begged for a living in Ba County when I was a child, not only in the county government gang, but also for the provincial government office and the government government gang, it is impossible not to know these things. ”

Han Chen suddenly realized, and couldn't help asking: "So let's go to the Fairy Temple to meet Futai after we meet Master Guo?" ”

"I'm going back to my hometown anyway, it doesn't matter if I go to see you or not. You are different from me, since you want to continue to be an official here, it is better to have more friendships than fewer friendships. ”

"Well, I'll have to prepare."

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