Fugui is just a retired member of the Wupin Fujian Customs, and his status is only equivalent to Han Chen, the deputy of Changlu Yun, and he does not have the qualifications to make Changlu Yanyun from the third grade Chonghou welcome.

After receiving the news, Ke Chonghou not only went out of the city to greet him in person, but also called Han Chen, who came to Tianjin a few days ago to help handle the tribute.

Thinking of the cannons donated by the Fujian merchants, the officials of the grain station stationed in Dagukou by Seng Greenqin would accept it, and they didn't know when the handover would be done, and the rich and noble didn't know when they would be able to rush over, Han Chen couldn't help but arch his hand and said: "My lord, why don't you go back to the government office first, just leave this matter to the lower officials." ”

Chonghou walked into the pavilion, looked in the direction of Dagukou, and said in a deep voice: "The family member he sent to report the morning before yesterday said that the guerrillas guarding Taiwan had already received the news that he was going to transport artillery. As soon as their ship docked, the guerrillas defending Taiwan gathered their troops to unload the cannons and projectiles on the shore, and estimated that it would not take long for the acceptance to be accepted, and they would be able to arrive in Tianjin at noon today at the latest. ”

"My lord, the lower officials think it's inappropriate for you to greet you in person, and it's so hot outside......"

"Haikou is in urgent need of artillery for blockage, more than a dozen large and small foreign cannons can not be bought with silver, rich and noble across the sea thousands of miles to send cannons, as the so-called sending charcoal in the snow, he has made such a great contribution to the imperial court, for my Houyi Hall Chief is so faced, what is wrong with this official going out of the city to greet him?"

Chonghou asked rhetorically, and then pointed to the freshly made tea in his entourage and greeted: "Brother Yuzhi, come, take a sip of tea first to quench your thirst." ”

"Master Xie."

"This tea seems to have been brought by him a year ago."

Han Chen sat on the stone bench, picked up the teacup and tasted it, and couldn't help laughing: "It's not a secret, he also gave a few catties to the lower official with the ticket number." ”

Chonghou thought about it and muttered: "He did a good job in Fujian, I really can't understand why he has to take over the foreign cannon to return to Beijing, it is difficult to be true that he is not accustomed to the soil and water and suffers from illness." ”

Thinking that Chonghou was not an outsider, Han Chen couldn't help but put down the teacup and said with a wry smile: "My lord, the reason why he returned to Beijing after his illness, Xia Guan happened to know a little bit about it. ”

"Tell me about it."

As far as the officials know, there are several considerations why he made up his mind to complain about illness, one is that Fujian is not peaceful, last year the long-haired thieves Shi Zhenji and Yang Fuqing led their troops from Tieniuguan and Yunji Pass in Jiangxi to Fujian, and successively captured Guanglug, Shaowu, Ketaining, Jianning, Liancheng and other places, and attacked until Wuping.

It is said that the Citi Army of Shi Dakai, the long-haired winged king, also entered Fujian from Tieniuguan, fought luster, attacked Shaowu, and then divided his troops from Shaowu into two ways: all the way to attack Masha, break Jianyang, and enter Jiangle; All the way from Shaowu to Taining, attacked Jianning, and committed Ninghua, and later I don't know why, they retreated one after another. ”

Chonghou reacted, and just as he didn't know what to say, Han Chen said again: "Just two or three months ago, the thief general Yang Fuqing led his troops from Cen Yang Pass to Fujian, attacked Pucheng through Chong'an Langu, occupied Songxi, and went down to politics and ......

Not only were the people of Fuzhou panicked, but even the emperor was shocked, otherwise he would not have ordered the squire Zeng Guofan to lead Xiangyong and go to Fujian and Zhejiang to suppress Changmao. ”

Chonghou originally thought that Fugui was both a great hero and a great loyal minister, but when he heard Han Chen say this, he thought that the reason why Fugui resigned was actually because he was greedy for life and afraid of death.

Thinking that Fugui was just a "shaking his head" in Fujian Customs, and that he had no responsibility to defend the land like a scholar, and felt that it was normal for people to flee for his life when disaster came, he couldn't help but ask: "In addition, what else does he consider?" ”

"His eldest son, Jilu, must be recognized by adults. Over the years, Ji Lu has followed Lord Wen and Lord Han on errands, and has been the current head of Nanyuan from the pen post style, but the second son Jixiang who went to Fujian with him has no errand until today, so he wants to hurry back to Beijing to help the second son find a future. ”

"It doesn't matter if he loses his position or not?"

"My lord, others don't know, but you know best. Fujian Customs is not our Yamen, the superintendent is a local Taoist, and he is a person from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, no matter how much effort he has made in Fujian, don't expect to be the superintendent of Fujian Customs. ”

Han Chen took a sip of tea, thought about it and said with a smile: "What's more, he didn't come back empty-handed this time, but sent more than a dozen urgently needed large and small cannons, dozens of barrels of gunpowder and thousands of cannon pellets to the monk king, and he didn't spend a single tael of silver in the imperial court, even the emperor knows about this, do you think the emperor can treat him badly?" ”

"Think about it, with Bochuan and Zhixing helping him to talk to the emperor, it's really not difficult for him to get an errand in Beijing!"

"Therefore, the timing of his return to Beijing is just right."

"But in this way, isn't there no one in Fuzhou?" Chonghou asked with a frown.

"Speaking of this, there's something you may not know yet."

"What's the matter?"

Han Chen looked back behind him and confirmed that the people guarding outside the pavilion were all noble cronies, so he put down the teacup and said, "Xiaguan invited a friend to Nanyuan a few days ago to send a batch of salt to Heying. ”

"I know this, and I asked you to organize this."

"Xiaguan's friends didn't see Lord Han, but they saw Wang Qianli, and I heard Wang Qianli say that Yun Qijun and others who were stationed in Guangdong before our Houyi Hall and Wang Naizeng, who later went to Guangdong with Huang Zonghan, either had to be promoted to Beijing soon, or they were transferred to Guangxi for another appointment, anyway, they were all promoted!"

"Brother Yuzhi, according to what you say, we have no one in Guangdong?" Chonghou was taken aback.

"No one anymore." Han Chen confirmed helplessly.

Thinking that Huang Zonghan had been ordered to go to Houyi Hall before taking office, and had read the official documents of Wenxiang and Han Xiufeng with various semicolons over the years, Chonghou suddenly reacted: "What a Huang Zonghan, he is taking our officials stationed in Guangdong as a detective!" ”

"Let's debunk Ye Mingchen's nonsense again and again before, although he is not Ye Mingchen, he doesn't like to be stared at all the time."

Han Chen paused, and said helplessly: "If the Guangdong branch is not controlled by him, he will not dare to do it if he has a few guts." But now that Houyitang has been abolished, Wang Naizeng, Yun Qijun and others have all become local officials under his jurisdiction, and no one can say anything if he does this. ”

"Zhixing is also true, why do you want to remove the yamen that you have worked so hard to set up, now that you are good, you have become deaf and blind again!"

"You can't blame Lord Han for this, and you can't blame Lord Wen either."

"Why can't you blame it?" The more Chonghou thought about it, the more depressed he became, clenched his fists and said: "Wen Zhongtang had high hopes for our Houyi Hall before his death, as long as he did almost everything that the old man could do, but they were good, and the good yamen was abolished like this, not only the loser, not only the spirit of Wen Zhongtang in the sky, but also the court, sorry the emperor!" ”

"My lord, the reason why Lord Wen and Lord Han asked the emperor to let the semicolons be controlled by the governors of various places at that time was also to better handle the affairs of the country, who would have thought that Huang Zonghan would do this."

As Han Chen said, who would have thought that even a capable official like Huang Zonghan would first think of how to keep the black yarn hat after taking office, and then run errands.

Chonghou really didn't know what to say, so he was silent for a while before he asked in a low voice, "What about the Shanghai branch?" ”

"There is no movement in Shanghai for the time being, and Boot Huan is still Shanghai Road."

"That's good, if Xue Huan is also transferred, then we will really be deaf and blind."

As he was talking, a soap servant rode over on a fast horse, and saw that the two were sitting opposite each other in the pavilion drinking tea, hurriedly turned over and dismounted, and shoved the reins into the hands of the messenger outside the pavilion, and then took out an official document and ran into the pavilion, respectfully presenting it to Chonghou.

"From the Military Aircraft Division?" Han Chen asked subconsciously.

"It's not." Chonghou motioned for Soap Li to step down, and said while watching: "The Ministry of Internal Affairs sent it, saying that Zhixing will come to us on an errand in two days." ”

"Lord Han is coming? What is Lord Han doing at this time? ”

"Procurement of materials needed to dredge the Nanyuan River Haizi, Brother Yuzhi, do you believe it?"

"I believe in the procurement of materials needed for the repair of the Nanyuan Palace Temple, what materials do you need to procure for dredging the river Haizi, even if you really need it, you don't need to come to Tianjin!"

"Ten **, like last time, is ordered to inspect coastal defense." Chonghou groaned.

Han Chen couldn't help asking, "Then do you want to inform Dao Xia and the prefect's yamen?" ”

"No, if he guessed correctly, he didn't want to alarm the monk king, otherwise he wouldn't have sent us this official document through the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

“”