Neither the port of Anfengchang nor the Laoba port of Jiaoxichang, including the Yangkou port of Zhangchachang, are not ports in the real sense, but just a few small fishing ports where dozens of fishermen live. Due to the alluvial accumulation of the Huai River over the years, mudflats with a length of several miles or even dozens of miles have been formed on the seashore, and it is difficult for ships who are not familiar with the tides and channels in this area to dock.

Because it is difficult to dock, whether it is a sand boat from Shanghai to Shandong or even to Tianjinwei, or a sand boat from Tianjin Wei or Shandong to Shanghai, it will hardly stop at the small fishing ports of Zhanggang, Laoba Port and Yangkou Port to replenish after passing through the sea area east of the Lianghuai Salt Farm, and even if it wants to replenish, it will only go to Haizhou (Lianyungang) in the north.

Fortunately, the boss of the boat hired by Su Jueming happened to be from Tongzhou, and he was more familiar with the sea area in this area, and the boat did not sail wrong, but because he was not familiar with the channel in and out of the fishing port, he did not dare to easily lean in the direction of land, so he could only lower the sail first and anchor until the tide was almost high, and then set sail and carefully docked.

After tossing for nearly a day, finally getting to the port and staying for less than a stick of incense, Gu Jinyan took Ren Yu'er and Lian'er off the boat, Fugui, Wang Guisheng and Zhou Changchun and others just helped them send their luggage ashore, and the boat boss shouted to hurry up, for fear that he would not be able to run aground after the tide fell.

On the shore, Gu Jinyan thought that as long as he found the tax collector sent by the Yamen of the Salt Division to collect fishing taxes here, he would be able to hire a boat to find Pan Changsheng, the new ambassador of the Jiaoxichang Salt Division, and then ask Pan Changsheng to send the three of them to Hai'an. As a result, I turned around and found that there were no houses in the once lively fishing village, and the large and small fishing boats were not only broken, but even washed ashore.

I finally found an old man who was picking things in the village and asked, only to know that a few days ago, the Sea Dragon King was in trouble, and the sea water poured into dozens of miles, and the fields of Anfeng, Fu'an, Jiaoxian and Zhangcha were all flooded, and thousands of people were displaced.

After confirming that Hai'an was not drowning, Gu Jinyan breathed a sigh of relief, gave the old man some dry food, asked the old man to help him find a small boat, and tossed until noon the next day before arriving at Hai'an, and did not go to the west field where Pan Erxin's office was located.

The nephew just went to Zhili and came back less than two months ago, Dean Gu and Yu Qinghuai were surprised, and when they asked the ins and outs of the matter, Dean Gu not only breathed a sigh of relief, but also was so happy that he couldn't keep his mouth shut, while asking his family to hurry home to report the good news, he and Yu Qinghuai led Gu Jinyan to Fengshan to meet Master Guo. After Ren Yu'er met Dean Gu and Yu Qinghuai, she took Lian'er directly to the south bank to find Yu Sangu.

Guo Peilin, who had just received the official document from the Yamen of Taiwan yesterday and was planning to move to Taizhou, was also surprised to see Gu Jinyan come back, and after listening to Gu Jinyan's report, after reading the letter that Han Xiufeng asked Gu Jinyan to bring and a copy of "The Collection of Thieves", he couldn't help laughing: "I was transferred to the General Administration Department to serve as a counselor, and I also became a 'small military aircraft', which is really a bit surprising!" ”

"Lord Guo, Master Han said that if it weren't for the inspiration of Mr. Zhang's "Collection of Thieves", he would not have thought of asking the emperor for this errand now, let alone being a small military machine."

"Willing to do what others are not willing to do, he deserves this 'little military aircraft'."

Dean Gu was confused when he heard this, and couldn't help asking, "Lord Guo, what does this "Collection of Thieves" say?" ”

Guo Peilin put down the pamphlet in his hand and explained: "Dean Gu, Zhang Shiheng, who came to Hai'an with Zhixing, you must remember it. This "Collection of Thieves" was compiled by Zhang Shiheng's father, Zhang Dejian, when he was serving under the command of Wu Wenrong, the governor of Huguang who had not yet been martyred. After the martyrdom of Lord Wu, Zhang Dejian has been serving under Zeng Guofan, and Zhixing said in the letter that he is helping Zeng Guofan to investigate the thief's situation. ”

He thought that Zhixing would lead the troops to quell the chaos sooner or later, so he sent a copy to Zhixing, so that Zhixing could have a number in his heart. As a result, Zhixing was inspired by the book "Thief Collection" compiled by him, and took the initiative to ask Yingxuan to inquire about the situation? ”

"The Manchu Dynasty is civil and military, no one wants to deal with foreigners, and if Zhixing is willing, the emperor will naturally entrust him with important tasks." Guo Peilin smiled, looked at Gu Jinyan, who was standing respectfully on the side, and said, "If Zhixing hadn't asked the emperor for such an errand, Shen Zhi would not have been able to do this classic history." ”

"So it's false to say that Shenzhi went to Fujian to do a canonical history, and is it true to help Zhixing find out the situation?" Yu Qinghuai couldn't help asking.

Without waiting for Guo Peilin to speak, Gu Jinyan couldn't help but smile and said: "It's true to go to the classic history, and it's also true to go to find out the situation." ”

"A good man has ambitions in all directions, since he has the opportunity to serve the imperial court, let's go." Guo Peilin smiled slightly, and then pointed out the door: "Zhixing said in the letter, I can't let you go to Fujian to take office alone, how many people do you want, who do you want to take with you, go out and pick it yourself." ”

"Master Guo, the student wants to take Liang Jiu to ......," Gu Jinyan said cautiously.

"You can really pick, okay, Liang Jiu is Liang Jiu, as long as he is willing, I can say it here."

Gu Jinyan was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed down to thank him.

Guo Peilin knew that he was going to Shanghai early the day after tomorrow, so he simply sent him to find Liang Jiu, looked at the background of his departure, thought about it and smiled: "This is a 'little military plane', is it possible that I still have to prepare a charcoal tribute for him?" ”

"Master Guo is really good at laughing, Master Han doesn't dare to accept anyone's charcoal from you."

"Yes, Lord Guo, Master Han often told us when he was in Hai'an, you are not only his superior, but also his elder!"

"It's rare that he still remembers me," Guo Peilin nodded with satisfaction, and then changed his words: "Two, Zhixing and Shenzhi are dedicated to investigating the affairs of Yiqing, you and I can do it, and we must not leak it out." In short, we can't help him, but we can't help him anymore. ”

"Don't worry, Lord Guo, we must not tell others."

"Then I have to go back to Taizhou early tomorrow morning, Hai'an can only rely on the two, and I don't worry about leaving the disaster relief to others, so I can only rely on the two."

"Lord Guo's words are serious, these are my equal things, not to mention that the grain in the Yicang is what you have saved in the past two years."

"It was originally used to quell the chaos, but I never thought it would encounter this natural disaster." Thinking of the displacement of tens of thousands of salt from various stove households in Huaizhong, Guo Peilin said solemnly: "This little grain at the foot of the mountain is only a drop in the bucket, and the excerpt of the tax and grain for the suspension of the payment of taxes and grains has been rushed by 600 miles, and I don't know if the emperor will approve it." If the emperor doesn't allow it, you and I have to prepare to press and prepare to quell the chaos! ”

Thinking that the common people would rebel if they couldn't survive, Dean Gu hurriedly said: "My lord, after you leave, I will gather the gentry to see if I can donate more, I can't wait to take care of the distant places, even if I can take care of it, I will be powerless, but I should still be able to find a way to save the relief corner." ”

"Dean Gu, I'm relieved to have your old words. As for the Zhangcha Farm, I went back and sent someone to find Rugao County; Fu'anchang and Anfengchang, I ordered Han Chen to find Dongtai County. The weather is getting colder and colder, so we have to open a porridge field as soon as possible, as long as we can survive this winter. ”

……

At the same time, Gu Jinyan not only found Liang Jiu, but was surrounded by Jinghua, Lu Daming, Liang Liu and others.

"So my brother-in-law has already arrived in Shanghai at this time?"

"It should have arrived, but the rich man will not stay in Shanghai, and when Mr. Wang and Su Jueming are sent ashore, he will go south with a few other colleagues who went to Ningbo, Xiamen, and Xiangshan to take up their posts."

"It's a fat difference to go to Fujian Customs to be a committee member, and I knew that I should really find a reason to go back to Beijing with my brother-in-law at that time."

"Jing Ye, aren't you very good now, Lord Guo is so important to you!"

"Lord Guo is very good to me, but it's always boring here."

Gu Jinyan didn't want to hear him complain, so he couldn't help asking: "Master Jing, I just saw that Master Guo was packing his luggage, saying that he was planning to move to Taizhou, what is going on, is there a new errand?" ”

Speaking of this, Jing Hua couldn't help but smile and said: "Lord Governor has an idea for a while, first ordered Lord Guo to supervise the regimental training of various states and counties in Lixiahe, and now ordered Lord Guo to move to Taizhou to carefully paint the scriptures and supervise the sale of salt. ”

"Let Lord Guo continue to act as the two Huai salt transport envoys?"

"I said that I asked Mr. Guo to act as an official, but I couldn't act for a few days, I figured it out, where to be an official, you can't come to Jiangsu to be an official, if you really come to this official, you won't be able to make a living at all. Let's talk about the two Huai Yun Divisions, Lord Guo acted for a year to change Liang Zuozhong, but Liang Zuozhong did it for less than half a year and then changed Jiang Guolin to do it. Jinghua paused, and said with a fluttering eyebrow: "Jiang Guolin arrived at the end of March, and he will be transferred to Guangdong in early August." It is said that the new Yanyun envoy's surname is Li, and his name is Li Enqing, but he has not arrived until today. ”

After being away from home for more than two months, he didn't know a lot of things in his hometown, Gu Jinyan thought about it and asked, "What about Yang Nengge and Old Ghost Xu?" ”

Yang Nengge said that he was a political envoy, but he did not arrive, and it is said that he ran back and forth in Gaoyou and Xuzhou to handle the general grain station of Jiangbei Ying. Xu Laogui, the Zhizhou, was the acting, and as soon as the new Zhizhou Chen Gongpu arrived, he rolled up and returned to Yangzhou. ”

"Then who is the current political envoy?"

"Political envoy...... The political envoys are all acting, and they are also changed twice in three days. He Jun, you know, for a while, he was acting as the political envoy of Jiang Ningbu, for a while he was acting as the political envoy of Jiangsu, and for a while he was acting as the envoy of Jiang Ning. I heard that except for Yang Wending, who was dismissed and arrested, and Qi Suzao, who was martyred in Jiangning City, almost all of the political envoys from Jiangsu and Jiangning who have been appointed in recent years have not taken up their posts. ”

"It's messy!" Gu Jinyan muttered.

"It's chaotic enough, you can tell me that hundreds of yamen, big and small, are all in chaos like this, how can this chaos be peaceful?" Thinking that Lu Daming and Liang Liu were both close associates of Lord Guo, Jing Hua thought about it and added: "Fortunately, we have Lord Guo here, and Huaizhong and Huainan have only suffered a little disaster, unlike other places where the official of Zhengyin keeps changing, it is simply a mess." ”