Let Datou and Xiao Wuzi take Master Xu and other people from Songjiang Mansion to settle down, Han Xiufeng and Pan Er walked into the inner house and talked about what was in front of them.

"Fourth brother, do you really plan to help Qiao Songnian find out about the thief?"

"People have come to the door, can you not help with this favor, and besides, it is really a gesture for us." Han Xiufeng looked at the books in the courtyard and Ren Yu'er, who was sitting in the shade of a tree reading and reading very attentively, a little absent-minded.

"It's nothing to find out about the thief, I'm worried that Qiao Songnian will let you go to quell the chaos." Pan Er said worriedly.

"Qiao Songnian is not Xu Ying with a tendon, he never thought that he could calm the chaos, how could he let me be an outsider to quell the chaos." Han Xiufeng touched his chin and muttered: "The situation in Shanghai is different from Taizhou, different from Yangzhou, it is even more chaotic and complicated than Taizhou. The rebellious guilds in the city can't succeed, but it's not so easy for the court to quell the chaos. ”

"Why isn't it easy?" Pan Er asked subconsciously.

"We were able to hold Taizhou, first, we were lucky and the reinforcements came in time. Second, there is the help of the gentry. And the reason why those gentry are willing to help us and dare to help us is because if they don't help them, they will be unlucky, and if Taizhou falls, Long Mao will not give them good fruits to eat. The Hui Party in Shanghai was different, they were fighting the banner of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, they only wanted to rebel and did not think about dealing with the gentry, and there were not only Cantonese and Fujianese people, but also locals and Ningbo people among those Hui parties. Therefore, some gentry wanted to wait and see, while others were afraid of reprisals and were reluctant and afraid to help the court. ”

Han Xiufeng paused, and then said: "Then there is the concession of foreigners outside the city, those who will even dare to show off in the concession, there will be no shortage of eyes and ears, and those gentry and businessmen who hide in the concession dare to act rashly." ”

"When the reinforcements of the imperial court arrive, no gentry can kill them!"

"You think too simply, if you think about where Qiao Songnian can move the rescue troops, there are several battalions in Susong Town, but the soldiers have already been drawn, even if they are not transferred to quell the chaos, it is useless, so the control of Taiwan and Futai can only ask for help from the commander, and can only transfer troops from the Jiangnan battalion, those soldiers in the Jiangnan battalion are not much better than those in the Jiangbei battalion, and I hope that they will be peaceful in this chaos."

"But none of the people in the city are long-haired, fourth brother, you have said that those parties in the city are a bunch of rabble."

"It's really a rabble, but it's also a rabble who have seen the world and have foreign guns and cannons! I forgot to tell you that Liu Lichuan took a group of congregants to carry several large boxes of silver last night, and bought all the arquebuses of those foreign companies in the concession, and also bought dozens of foreign cannons. You use a long-haired machete, a bird gun that is not accurate, cannot hit far, and is easy to explode, and you use a mountain cannon to fight against the Hui Party who use foreign guns and foreign cannons, and the Hui Party still has a city to defend, do you say this battle is good or not? ”

"Will the party go to the concession to buy guns and guns?"

"You just know," Han Xiufeng sighed and said helplessly: "The party robbed hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in the county treasury and the provincial treasury, plus the silver from the pawnshop and silver building in Qianzhuang, and there were millions of taels in his hand, not to mention in his hand. The county seat is next to the concession, and there are so many foreigners in the concession who dare to do whatever business as long as they have money to make, so they can buy as many foreign guns and cannons as they want. I bet they won't settle the mess until they spend the money. ”

Pan Er thought about it for a while, and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Fourth brother, if you say this, you will only be a cheap foreigner in the end!" ”

"This is said on the point, if I am a foreigner, I like someone to commit rebellion, and when the party who commits rebellion beats the court, the court will know the power of foreign guns and cannons, and when the time comes, you can sell guns and run away to the party, or you can sell guns and guns to the court, who doesn't buy it will not win, you say how easy it is to make money."

"That'...... So what do we do? ”

"I don't know, I can only take one step at a time, and wait for the exact news from Jiading to decide whether to leave or stay."

Pan Er couldn't help but glance back at Ren Yu'er, who was reading a book in the shade of a tree, and asked in a low voice, "Dean Ren?" ”

"Well, you just know, don't tell them just yet."

While chatting, Xiao Wuzi hurriedly walked in, and as soon as he entered the inner courtyard, he said eagerly: "Fourth master, one of our brothers went to the concession to buy things, and I heard that the people in the concession said that the party soldiers would go out of the city in several ways, some went to Chuansha, some went to Baoshan, and all the way just smashed the Jianghaiguan Yamen on the edge of the Huangpu River, and many people followed and robbed all the things in the yamen. ”

"Did you divide your troops to attack Songjiang?"

"I don't know."

"What about Chongming?"

"I don't know, but there shouldn't be so many people in the party."

"Does your uncle know?"

"I haven't told my uncle yet."

"Hurry up and tell your uncle."

"Oh, I'll go."

After sending Xiao Wuzi away, Han Xiufeng turned around and said: "If they want to do the business of the yamen, they have to do things for the yamen, so we don't need to worry about this kind of thing, Wood should know what to do." ”

Pan Er reacted: "Fourth brother, do you mean to let Wood send those guys from Rishengchang to the concession to investigate?" ”

"If they don't go, do they let our people go? Our people are all newcomers, and even if we go, we can find out something. Han Xiufeng touched the corners of his mouth, and continued: "But Lin Qingyuan, the second devil, we have to help think of a way, you can arrange it later, quietly take him to a far place, and arrange for the people brought by Master Xu to go to Enwei and Shi, and see if he is willing to serve the imperial court." ”

"Okay, I'll arrange it when Zhang Guangsheng and Su Jueming come back."

……

Over the next two days, the bad news followed.

The party set out from Shanghai and Jiading, and successively captured Baoshan, Nanhui, Qingpu and Chuansha Hall, the county magistrate of the three counties and the Songjiang Mansion Tongzhi who acted for the Chuansha Department abandoned the city and fled, and the Songjiang Branch of the Liangzhejiang Salt Transportation Division and the field officials of the two salt farms stationed in Chuansha also ran away, and Master Xu was worried about Qiao Songnian's safety, and rushed to Songjiang overnight as soon as he received the news of the fall of Chuansha.

Han Xiufeng sent Master Xu back to the hall, and looked at the worried people with a smile: "Actually, Mr. Xu doesn't need to be so nervous, there are only a few people in the party, and occupying so many places at once is already the end of the crossbow, how can you have the spare strength to attack Songjiang again." Even if Songjiang is occupied, they can't keep it. ”

Today, there are people who will meet the party from the west, less than a mile away from the house, Su Jueming is really afraid, and said with a bitter face: "Fourth master, the people and horses of the party are rolling more and more like a snowball, there were only more than 2,000 people three days ago, and now there are 20,000 people to say the least, or let's go too, if we don't go, we can't go!" ”

"20,000 people, you don't see it, most of the people who passed from the west in the afternoon followed the coaxing, and the momentum was okay, and it was a joke to expect them to fight." Han Xiufeng smiled and continued: "Actually, it's not that I don't want to go, but I feel that it's not safe to walk now, rather than encountering the party on the way back, it's better to wait and see." ”

"yes, what's there to worry about, it's a big deal to go to the concession." Zhang Guangsheng couldn't help but say: "Today's concession is different from yesterday, all intersections are guarded by foreigners, and the party is not allowed to enter again." ”

"If you take off the red turban, how do foreigners know if you will be able to join the party?"

"If you take off the red turban, you don't know if it's a party or not, but foreigners are not allowed to bring weapons into the concession again."

Han Xiufeng didn't expect Su Jueming to retreat, and couldn't help laughing: "Jueming, if you want to go back, you can go first, and if you go, you can help me carry a letter to Lord Guo." ”

"Fourth master, I'm not afraid, I'm worried about you!"

"Guangsheng has already made it very clear, what is there to worry about," Thinking that he was really nervous in the afternoon, Han Xiufeng muttered: "Changsheng, otherwise, didn't Xiao Wuzi say that many people are buying land and houses in the concession in the afternoon, and you will also go to the concession early tomorrow morning to see if there is a suitable house, and if there is, buy one." Be a neighbor with foreigners, not to mention that the party doesn't know that I am an official of the imperial court, even if I know to forgive them, I don't dare to go to the concession to make trouble. ”

"Go to the concession to buy a property?" Pan Er asked in surprise.

"The imperial court does not allow me to buy land and real estate in office, I am the deputy of Lianghuai, and Shanghai is not my office, so what can't I do." Han Xiufeng took out the pocket watch that Zhang Guangcheng asked Zhang Guangsheng to give, and sighed: "Shanghai is a place full of Chinese and foreign, I really don't know how big the world is if I don't come to see it, anyway, I am an eye-opener." Buying some industry in Shanghai, we can use it now, and we can use it in the future, and when our baby grows up, we must let them come to see it anyway, otherwise even if we read more books, we will be frogs at the bottom of the well. ”

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