It's getting colder and colder, and the sun is setting earlier.

Su Jueming, who had been sitting in Qichang Foreign Bank for an afternoon, put on a melon skin hat as usual and went straight to the Bund along the road built by foreigners.

The road was full of traffic, he looked around curiously as if he was coming for the first time, stopped to see the excitement for a while, and when he was tired of walking, he found a clean place to sit down and rest for a while, until he quietly figured out how many foreign ships were on the river, whether they were gunboats or merchant ships, and how many guns were on the gunboats, and then returned to the Sichuan Hall along the main road.

The concession is not small, but it is not big, and there are only a handful of court officials like him who have nothing to do and wander around the concession every day.

Almost all the guys from several foreign companies along the way knew him, and they laughed at him behind his back, a deputy member of the Jianghai Customs who had neither power nor money, and even the government office was occupied by foreigners, so he could only live in the Sichuan Guild Hall. But as long as I see him, I will come out and shout "Master Su", and sometimes invite him in for a cup of tea.

Su Jueming was accustomed to being ridiculed and ridiculed, and on the surface he always pretended to be frustrated and depressed in officialdom, but in his heart he was thinking about what was so great about you "fake foreign devils", and he was secretly scolding that Wang Agui just now had the ability to stay in the concession all his life, and Yang Nianjia, the second son of Yang Qinghe, the shopkeeper of "Houyitang", actually came out of the cracks.

"Third master, Master Zhou is back! My aunt and grandmother happened to be at home, and as soon as I heard that Master Zhou was back, I asked the little one to come out to look for you quickly. ”

Su Jueming glanced back behind him and asked in a low voice, "Why did he come back so quickly, did things not go well?" ”

Yang Nianjia hurriedly said: "Master Zhou said that all the things that my aunt and grandmother explained were done, and the reason why I came back so quickly was not that it was not done smoothly, but that it was done too smoothly." ”

"What do you mean by Taishun?"

"He went to Suzhou first, and only when he got the letter from Xue Futai did he go to Zhang Yuliang and 'Tiger' and 'Little Tiger'. Although Xiang Shuai was martyred, there were still many Shu generals in Jiangnan, and Zhang Guoliang couldn't help but give them face. Master Zhou also said that this road was not as dangerous as he thought before, and said that the long-haired turtle had retracted into Jiangning City. ”

The old man Zhou mentioned by Yang Nianjia is the former "Copper King" Zhou Xingyuan, who originally did a job as a county magistrate in Shanghai, but he did an errand of setting up cards, which can be called a daily progress, and everyone looked red. When Xiang Rong was there, no one dared to touch him, but as soon as the news of Xiang Rong's illness and death in the army reached Shanghai, he was jointly signed by Shanghai Daolan Weiwen and Shanghai Governor Huang Fang, and the imperial court issued an order to dismiss him and investigate it.

Where did the cents of gold that Zhou Xingyuan smoked, Xue Huan knew it.

But Xiang Rong was only a minister in charge of military affairs in Jiangnan before his death, and he couldn't take care of local affairs, and the matter of arranging for Zhou Xingyuan to come to Shanghai to set up a silk tea bureau to raise salaries could not be put on the table. And Xue Huan is the prefect of Suzhou, not the prefect of Songjiang, even the prefect of Songjiang can't take care of Shanghai's affairs, so he can only be anxious but can't help.

The accounts of the Silk Bureau could not withstand the investigation at all, and Zhou Xingyuan didn't want to sit still, so he hid in the concession with more than 50,000 taels of gold that he didn't have time to release to the Jiangnan camp!

Ren Yuer knew that he had a good relationship with Han Xiufeng, and she also knew that he was really wronged this time.

Thinking of the urgent need for silver turnover in "Houyitang", otherwise Wen Xiang and Wang Naizeng would not have let the branches help find a way, so they simply took in Zhou Xingyuan, and let Zhou Xingyuan become the person of the Shanghai branch of "Houyitang", and the more than 50,000 taels of gold were also remitted to the capital through "Rishengchang".

Ren Yuer asked Zhou Xingyuan to find Zhang Yuliang, Hu Songlin, Hu Kunyuan, Zhang Yinglu, Zhou Tianshou, Zhou Tianpei and Zhou Tianfu and other military attachés from Ba County last month, not because of the matter of Li Jin, but because he wanted to help Han Xiufeng's righteous brother Du San ask for a favor, after all, people die but they can't die in vain.

Thinking of whether Du San was considered a martyr or not, it was a matter of Zhang Guoliang, who assisted in Jiangnan military affairs, and it was impossible for Zhang Guoliang not to give face to so many Shu generals, Su Jueming thought about it and asked: "Since the matter has been done, and my aunt and grandmother also know, why is she in a hurry to let you come out to me?" ”

"Grandma said that there was a letter from the capital!"

"Got it."

The letter from the capital is not a trivial matter, Su Jueming didn't dare to ask outside, even if he asked Yang Nianjia, he didn't know, and hurriedly quickened his pace.

Hurried to the mansion at the back of the hall, only to see Ren Yuer standing in the glass greenhouse in the courtyard, wearing gloves and holding a pair of scissors, cutting flowers and arranging flowers according to the patterns in the foreigners' albums.

This is one of the courses of the girls' school, Su Jueming didn't feel strange, and arched his hand with Zhou Xingyuan, who was standing on the side, and then asked cautiously: "Miss Ren, I heard that the family said that there was a letter from Beijing?" ”

"It's a letter," Ren Yu'er put down the scissors and turned around: "Mr. Wang said three things in the letter, two good news and one bad news. ”

This tone is also learned from foreigners, Su Jueming was not surprised in the morning, and couldn't help but smile: "You better tell the bad news first." ”

"In fact, we already knew the bad news, that is, the British army in Hong Kong attacked Guangzhou, Mr. Wang asked us to quickly find out whether England would transfer troops from the mainland, quickly investigate the movements of France and the United States, and pay attention to the movements of foreigners here in Shanghai."

Ren Yu'er walked to the stone table, took a sip of Lian'er's freshly brewed coffee, gently wiped the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief, and continued: "The good news is that my fourth brother won a big victory in Hubei, and the emperor not only promoted my fourth brother to the Shaoqing of Taifu Temple, and ordered my fourth brother to return to Beijing immediately to take office, but also ordered my fourth brother to still walk in the military plane Zhangjing. ”

Su Jueming thought that this was really good news, and couldn't help laughing: "Great, I know that the fourth master will return to Beijing sooner or later, and sooner or later he will be promoted!" ”

Zhou Xingyuan also sighed: "Although the Shaoqing of Taifu Temple is not Xiao Jiuqing, he is also a second official. The four masters have already made the incomparably noble Sipin Jingtang, and the emperor also ordered the fourth master to walk extra on the military plane Zhangjing, which shows how graceful the four masters' holy relatives are! ”

"Although my fourth brother has become a Sipin Jingtang, although he has also become a 'small military aircraft', I estimate that there will be no fewer people who are red-eyed, can he be a stable official, although we can't help a lot, but we can also help a little, so we can't relax on the errand here in Shanghai."

"Miss is right, don't worry, I will definitely investigate carefully."

"Hmm." Ren Yu'er nodded slightly, then looked at Zhou Xingyuan with a smile and said: "Then Mr. Zhou, you don't have to worry about the matter of the Silk Bureau, Mr. Wang said that Lan Weiwen knows how to impeach others, and he doesn't want to think about whether his own ass is clean." He can't do this platform for a few days, the new Daotai surname Tang, named Yunsong, Daoguang 20 years Jinshi, not only with Ji Yun Feiji is a colleague of the Hanlin Academy, and Zhuo Zhongtang's son Zhuo Lu and Ba County's Gong Ying Gong is the same year.

Lord Zhuo Zhuo is now the right attendant of the military department, and he learned that Tang Yunsong was going to release Su Song Taidao, and he also served with Master Ji in the Chongqing Hall to wish Tang Yunsong a high promotion. Lord Wen and Mr. Wang were not only invited to the banquet, but also took him to the Xiangxian Temple in the guild hall to worship the portrait of Xiang Shuai and the spiritual seat, and then privately told him about the Silk Tea Bureau. ”

Zhou Xingyuan's hanging heart finally fell, and he couldn't help sighing: "There are people in the court who are different from no one, if it weren't for the care of Lord Wen and Mr. Wang, I, Zhou Xingyuan, would really jump into the Huangpu River and couldn't wash it away!" ”

"Lord Wen's official fortune is prosperous, but if it weren't for my fourth brother, he would be where he is today?" Ren Yu'er smiled, and said meaningfully: "As for your business, Tang Yunsong also looks at the face of Lord Zhuo and Master Ji, in the final analysis, it is the face of my fourth brother, he has no friendship with Lord Wen." ”

"Yes, yes, Miss is right, in the final analysis, it still depends on the fourth master!"

"Mr. Zhou, that's what I said, you don't have to be a fourth master. What kind of friendship do you have with my fourth brother, I have to call you brother. ”

Now is different from the past, Zhou Xingyuan didn't dare to call the aunt in front of him who even treated Xue Huan, the prefect of Suzhou, with courtesy, and even Lan Weiwen of Shanghai Dao didn't dare to provoke him, so he hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Miss is really good at laughing, Xingyuan is guilty, but I don't dare to call the fourth master a brother and a brother, otherwise I really don't understand the rules." ”

"You are always so polite, you have said that you are your own person, why are you so angry."

Ren Yu'er squatted slightly and said a blessing.

Zhou Xingyuan dared to accept such a big gift, and hurriedly bowed in return.

Su Jueming was secretly muttering that Ren Yu'er had studied in the end, not only reading the books of sages but also the books of foreigners, becoming more and more shrewd, more and more powerful, and even becoming less like a woman, and even beating Zhou Xingyuan, who was born in a person. Thinking that the fourth master would be impressed if he knew, Zhou Xingyuan suddenly said: "Miss Ren, Xingyuan is in the Jintan Army this time, and I heard Zhang Yuliang and them say that the battle of Changmao in the past few months has been a little strange. ”

Although Ren Yu'er was only interested in the movements of foreigners, she still asked with a smile: "What's wrong?" ”

They said that after Qin Rigang broke through the official armies of Jiangbei and Jiangnan, not only did he not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but he soon led his troops back to Jiangning, and stayed in Jiangning for several days before he was sent out to attack Danyang and Jintan. The news of Xiang Shuai's death in the army spread quickly, and even many people in Danyang and Jintan and other places knew about it.

The commander of the official army died, and it stands to reason that they should have stormed, but on the fourth day after Xiang Shuai died of illness, they suddenly withdrew their troops from Danyang and withdrew completely! Later, I heard that they were going to attack Jintan, and there were only more than 1,000 regiments in Jintan City and more than 700 green battalions led by Li Hongxun, and they were surrounded by them on the east, west, and north, and the reinforcements led by Zhang Yuliang and others could not get close at all, but after more than 20 days, the city was about to break, and they quietly pulled out the camp and withdrew overnight. ”

"Isn't it good for longhair to retire?" Ren Yuer asked subconsciously.

Zhou Xingyuan explained: "It's not that the withdrawal is bad, but that this battle is a little strange. Think about it, they moved from Jiangnan to Jiangbian, all the way to conquer the city, it can be called a breakthrough, but it took so much effort to fight back and forth, and they didn't occupy a single city, so they just retreated, and even let He Chun and Zhang Guoliang gather the rout and reorganize the Jiangnan camp, what is the difference between this and not fighting, what are they trying to do? ”

Ren Yu'er is a woman after all, and she still thinks about helping to find out the situation, she really doesn't understand the things on the battle array, but when she thinks of the letter she just received at noon, she can't help but murmur: "Go to attack Hubei, go to the aid of Shi Dakai, the thief leader of Wuchang City, seems to be fighting and retreating like Qin Rigang." If Shi Dakai hadn't retreated, my fourth brother wouldn't have been able to return to Beijing. ”

"So the long hair in Hubei is also anticlimactic?"

"That's what Mr. Wang's letter says."

"Miss Ren, can you let Xingyuan read Mr. Wang's letter."

"Why not, Lian'er, go and help me get the letter."

"Okay."

……

After waiting for a while, Lian'er brought the translated letter.

Zhou Xingyuan didn't care about appreciating Ren Yuer's handwriting, only looked at the content, looked at it and muttered: "Could it be that the rumors are true, is it really infighting?" ”

"Mr. Zhou, do you mean ......" Ren Yu'er couldn't help but ask.

Zhou Xingyuan put down the letter and explained: "Miss doesn't know, Xingyuan went to Jintan this time, and met a few traitors who often went to Jiangning City to trade with Changmao, they said that Changmao had internal strife, you kill me, I will kill you, kill and kill many people, and the dead are all old thieves in Guangxi." ”

"There is such a thing!" Ren Yu'er was taken aback.

"I asked Zhang Yuliang and Zhou Tianpei, they have heard a lot of rumors, not that they have noses and eyes, but that they are more exaggerated than the other, some say that Hong Xiuquan is dead, some say that Yang Xiuqing is dead, and some say that Qin Rigang is dead, and no one dares to take it seriously. After all, there have been too many similar rumors over the years, and even the minister of the Imperial Mission, Sai Shang'a, lied back then, not counting the folk rumors, if the light in the newspaper were added up, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing had died dozens of times in the past few years! ”

Ren Yuer asked, "Is it real or fake this time?" ”

"Who can say that?" Zhou Xingyuan smiled bitterly.

Thinking that the fourth brother was on his way to Beijing to take up his post, if he could verify the news, the fourth brother would be the first to report to the emperor after entering Beijing, and the emperor would be very happy, Ren Yu'er stared at Zhou Xingyuan and said: "Mr. Zhou, I think this kind of thing would rather be believed than not believed." You have worked hard in the army, and you have just returned from Jintan, and you are familiar with the road, so if you don't bother to go again, find more people to ask, and see if you can find out whether this rumor is true or false. ”

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