The potters are honest and reliable, and in case of war, as long as they are given enough money, they will be able to use their lives. But Jiang Yan was under the rule of Taizhou after all, and it was always a bit unjustifiable to recruit young and strong people to train township warriors in Taizhou.

Guo Peilin was wondering if there was a way to get the best of both worlds, and Han Chen proposed: "Lord Guo, why don't we move the criticism office to Jiangyan, the size of the criticism office is also a yamen, and it can't be that only the ambassador of the criticism office has no soap and salt pawns." ”

"Jiangyan is on the edge of the Yunyan River, and it is also a way to temporarily move the Yizhen Criticism Institute to Jiangyan, and select a diligent person from those candidates for salt experience or salt governors to act as the ambassador of the Salt Quotation Institute, and order him to recruit young people on the spot to train a hundred salt warriors." Guo Peilin smiled, turned around and said: "Zhixing, the matter of editing and training Yan Yong is just for the ambassador of the Criticism Institute to come forward, and you have to worry about recruiting and training specifically." ”

"Lord Guo is serious, this is an internal matter, not to mention labor."

"By the way, what's the name of the man who ate with us just now?"

"Jinghua."

"Full general?"

Han Xiufeng said with a smile: "It's not just a general, it's also a yellow belt." ”

Guo Peilin was surprised, and couldn't help asking: "Those idle clans in the capital are all over the streets, which is rare in Taizhou, which yamen is he working for, what is he doing in Hai'an?" ”

"This is a long story, do you remember that when Lord Duan returned to Beijing to meet him, I asked a tax official from Chongwenmen to help him save a few thousand taels of silver? This Jinghua is the brother-in-law of the tax officer, you know the errand of the tax officer, he can only work for a year at most in Chongwenmen, and now it is almost a year, and he has found an errand for the Yangzhou Customs Commissioner, and before he came to Yangzhou to take office, he made some money to ask for the uncles of the Zongren Mansion to let Jinghua go out of Beijing and come to Jiangbei to serve. ”

"I know a little about that tax official, but since his brother-in-law went to Qishan to work, why didn't he go to Yangzhou and go to Hai'an?"

"Lord Guo, you have been a Beijing official for so many years, and others don't know the virtues of these idle clans, but you know best. Do you think he has the courage to go to Qishan's? Even if he has the courage to go to Qishan, will he dare to use it? ”

"So he ran to Hai'an to join you?"

"He didn't just come to me to cheat on food and drink, but he also wanted me to help him get an errand. I thought that you had been in office for so long, and you had promoted so many civil and military officials, but none of them were full, let alone the clan, so I let him stay. ”

Han Xiufeng seemed to be joking, but Guo Peilin realized that this was not a trivial matter, and slapped his thigh with a snap: "Zhixing, if it wasn't for your reminder, I almost forgot about this stubble!" This Jinghua is good, stay right, doesn't he want to be an official, give him an official to do, and the salt fishing camp is him! ”

"Master Guo, why don't you meet him first?"

"It's okay if an idle sect like him doesn't see him, not to mention that you and he already know each other, so what do I have to worry about."

"In that case, then I'll ask him to hand over his resume and the official documents of the Zongren Mansion and the Military Department to Changsheng later."

"Well, this matter needs to be done quickly." Guo Peilin nodded slightly, and then changed his words: "Zhixing, although the harvest of this trip to the Tongzhou branch is not big, it has not run in vain, and a total of more than 23,500 taels of silver and more than 1,800 stones of rice have been raised. ”

"Don't worry, Lord Guo, the lower officials will urge them." Han Chen hurriedly said.

"Okay," Guo Peilin nodded with satisfaction, and continued: "I asked Liang Jiu along the way, and Liang Jiu said that the young man who had never been in battle had seen blood, and there was a chance that he would collapse at the touch of a bandit." The reason why you were able to hold Liaojiagou last time was because of firearms, and it was a foreigner's shotgun. ”

"It's not just foreign guns, but also foreigners' gunpowder." Han Xiufeng said with a wry smile.

"Liang Jiu also said that the lead shot out with the gunpowder of foreigners is farther than with our own gunpowder, and it can even reach 200 steps, which is similar to our carrying a gun. In short, since foreign guns and foreigners' gunpowder are sharp, we might as well buy more. ”

"Where to buy?"

"Where else can I go except to Shanghai County, I have inquired, and it is said that a foreign gun costs more than 100 taels of silver, which is still the price of years ago. Now that Jiangning has been occupied by bandits, many gentry have sent people to buy guns for self-protection, and when there are more people who buy them, foreigners will definitely sit on the ground and raise the price. ”

"Master Guo, so you can buy more than 20,000 taels of silver, and you can't buy many foreign guns." Han Xiufeng groaned.

Guo Peilin said helplessly: "If you can't buy many rods, you have to buy them, otherwise what will you use to deal with the bandits." And then who will buy it, there are no outsiders here, I might as well tell you a word from my heart, I really can't think of anyone I can trust except for the two of you. After all, this is more than 20,000 taels, and it will be difficult to raise it if it is swept away! ”

Han Xiufeng thought to himself that there are indeed not many people who can be trusted in this world, after all, wealth is moving, looking at Guo Peilin's frowning appearance, he smiled and said: "Lord Guo, I will go once in two days." ”

"What should you do if you go to the salt fishing camp, do those townsmen still want to practice?"

"I'll arrange it before I go, and besides, Shanghai County is not close to Hai'an, but it's not that far, and a month back and forth is enough, so I can't delay anything." Han Xiufeng paused, and said with a smile: "I'm not afraid of your jokes, in fact, I've always wanted to open my eyes and see what the ten-mile foreign field that people are talking about." ”

"Since it won't be delayed, I'll bother you to go." Thinking that not only did he not let the person in front of him return to his hometown, but also arranged so many errands for him, Guo Peilin was very apologetic, and was silent for a moment and suddenly asked: "Zhixing, on the side of the salt fishing camp and Xiangyong, who else can be used besides Liang Jiu?" ”

"There are quite a few, I'll keep them all for you."

"Not only that, but quite a few?"

"I can't coax anyone!" Han Xiufeng put down the teacup and smiled proudly: "Liang Jiu's cousin Liang Liu, you must have heard that he has returned from Yangzhou. There is also Lu Daming, who introduced Liang Jiu to me at the beginning, and Chen Hu, who once went to Daqiao with Wu Wenming to intercept the bandits. In short, the villagers who stayed in Wanfuqiao have returned more than 40 one after another. Not only have they all been in battle and seen blood, but they have also been all captains, chiefs and even sentinel commanders before. ”

"What about them?" Guo Peilin asked eagerly.

"It's all sitting on the cold bench in the Baojia Bureau, they have been pitted by those masters of the Fairy Temple, and now they are regretting it one by one. If you can activate them, they will die. ”

"With so many people available, why didn't you say it sooner?"

"Didn't I take care of it," Han Xiufeng smiled and said, "When it comes to leading the troops, Lu Daming and Liang Liu can be in charge alone. Chen Hu was bold and careful, and once led more than 30 villagers to deal with bandits in the area of Daqiao Town, not only bringing back more than 30 villagers, but also bringing back more than 30 heads of bandits. Although Jiang Huai is not as good as them, it is more than enough to lead a group of villagers. ”

"Thousands of troops are easy to get, but I didn't expect there to be so many fierce generals, good, great!" Guo Peilin was excited, and when he thought about it, he stood up, stared at Han Xiufeng and said: "Zhixing, I, Guo Peilin, will definitely do what I say." Don't you want to return to your hometown, at the latest next spring, when the salt fishing camp and those villagers are well trained, no matter how tight the war is, I will let you go back. ”

"Lord Xie Guo is complete." Han Xiufeng was waiting for this sentence, and hurriedly stood up and bowed in thanks.

"What's so thankful for this, I should thank you." Guo Peilin held his arms and asked: "Half a year has passed in a blink of an eye, if you have anything else to do in Jiangsu, just tell me, lest you not remember or take care of it when you leave." ”

"Master Guo, I found that there are really a few things I want to ask you for what you said."

"But it doesn't hurt to say it."

"The first thing is that I have a little friendship with Yizhen's Wu family, Wu Wenming went back to Yizhen to run a group practice, and I don't know if I can go back to Taizhou again. If he really had three longs and two shorts, the family members he placed in Taizhou before he left couldn't be left unattended. ”

"The younger brother of Wu Wenrong, the governor of Liangjiang?"

"Exactly."

"You can rest assured, even if you don't have a relationship with the Wu family, I, Guo Peilin, have to protect the Wu family."

"Lord Xie Guo," Han Xiufeng arched his hand, and continued: "Then Dean Gu, Wang Qianli, Yu Qinghuai and other Hai'an gentry are now about to become the gentry of our Yunsi Yamen, no matter what we do, people will respond to their needs." People are so close to our Yunsi, it's hard to say whether the Taizhou main hall will have ideas in the future, so ......"

"My Yunsi Yamen is the Yamen?" Guo Peilin patted Han Xiufeng's arm and said categorically: "You can rest assured that they don't leave Jiangsu, no one will dare to embarrass them!" ”

"Lord Guo, I thank you on behalf of the dean."

"Here we go again, get down to business, anything else?"

"There's one more thing, it's just a little hard to talk about."

"How could you become such a mother-in-law, there are no outsiders here, there is nothing wrong with saying something."

"Then I'll just say, Ren Yaen, the dean of Mingdao Academy, you have seen him, he is not only a tribute student, but also an alternate Confucian instructor, and he has been waiting for more than ten years to fill the vacancy. So I want to help him beg you, if you have the chance, you can fill in the gap, if only you could be a teacher. ”

"I thought it was a big deal, the new Jiangsu Xuezheng happened to be my friend when I was in the capital, you asked the Gongsheng surnamed Ren to hand over his resume to Changsheng, and I went back and wrote a letter to send someone to Jiangyin along with my resume."

"Master Guo, why don't you ask me why I want to help him seek an official?" Han Xiufeng couldn't help laughing.

"Who doesn't have friends and relatives, what's there to ask about this?" Guo Peilin was really not interested in these, so he asked rhetorically and asked, "Is there anything else?" ”

"No, no, there's one more thing."

"And hurry up!"

"Also, you must take care of me after I leave, I am still waiting for you to bring my baby in the future."

"What's the matter, do you think I'm short-lived?" Guo Peilin scolded with a smile, sat down and sighed: "Zhixing, I dare to conclude that the former Duan Dazhang must have told you something, it's a pity, it's a pity!" ”

"Why did Lord Guo say this?"

"You really don't know if you really don't know if you don't know."

"I really don't know, Master Guo, what does it have to do with Lord Duan if I want to go home!"

In fact, he didn't say it explicitly, but he could hear from his words that he was tired of officialdom and had the idea of resigning and going into hiding. Everyone has their own aspirations, so don't talk about it. ”