Although Qiao Songnian had to help support the army's rations, he didn't always have to stay outside Shanghai, and he didn't feel at ease before returning to Songjiang, so he changed into civilian clothes and quietly came to the concession under the escort of Master Xu and other family members.

Han Xiufeng didn't expect him to come, for fear that he would be targeted by the eyes and ears of the party, so he immediately ordered Chen Hu and Ji Er and other brothers of the old Taiyong camp to strengthen their vigilance, and asked Datou and Cuihua to hurry up and set up a table of banquets.

Qiao Songnian took office in Jiangsu not long ago, and after taking office, most of them were in Songjiang, and he was usually very busy, and many gentry in Songjiang Mansion did not recognize him, let alone the party in Shanghai. So he wasn't worried about being assassinated at all, sat down and took the tea from Ren Yu'er's hand, and while looking at the furnishings in the bungalow with interest, he asked with a smile: "Zhixing, you are building a house on the edge of the horse racing hall, is it also in this style?" ”

"It's based on a foreigner's drawing, but the layout and style are not quite the same here."

"What's different?"

Han Xiufeng said with a smile: "How long can I live in Shanghai, even if my baby is older, he will only live for a long time and open his eyes, so there is no need to be like this." I don't have a garden, but there is a circle of shops around me, with a small courtyard and a three-story western-style building, and there are more than 20 rooms up and down including the kitchen. ”

Qiao Songnian put down the cup and said: "Come to think of it, you built it as a guild hall, the more rooms the better, and you can also rent the outside circle of shops to others for trading, and the rent received can be used for repairs." ”

"That's what I thought."

"Zhixing, I know that you value hometown friendship, and there is nothing wrong with valuing hometown friendship, but you are now a court official of the fifth grade, and you are no longer the head of the guild."

Han Xiufeng couldn't help laughing and said: "When I bought land to build a house, I was not the acting governor of Songjiang Prefecture and the supervisor of Jiangjiang Customs. ”

"Yes, yes, I almost forgot." Qiao Songnian nodded, and then asked curiously: "Zhixing, do you recognize Zhou Xingyuan, who walked to Shuai Luzi to act as the Cheng of Shanghai County?" ”

"Recognize, what's wrong with him?"

"It seems that he is not only here to act as the county minister, but also to start a donation."

"There's this." Han Xiufeng said with a smile.

Qiao Songnian looked at him with a smile and said: "I can't control the kind of donation, and I can't take care of it, but if you want to start a donation in Shanghai, you can't get around Yang Nengge." I thought that Yang Nengge would not treat him, and he would not even let him set up a card in Shanghai, but he didn't expect him to persuade Yang Nengge, Yang Nengge nodded, Wu Xu and Sun Feng could only let him help Jiangnan Daying raise money in Shanghai. ”

Sun Feng is a prisoner in Shanxi, in other words, Sun Feng is his Qiao Songnian, and Wu Xu is Xu Naizhao's path, that is to say, Zhou Xingyuan came to Shanghai to start a donation, he and Li Naizhao were originally opposed, but they didn't expect Yang Nengge to actually support it, so it is not easy to say anything whether he is the prefect of Songjiang or Li Naizhao, the acting governor of Jiangsu, after all, Shanghai is the "Zhili County" of Su Song Taidao, Yang Nengge didn't say anything, and they are even more difficult to interfere.

Han Xiufeng didn't expect Zhou Xingyuan's matter to go so smoothly, and asked curiously: "Brother Jianhou, do you know how Zhou Xingyuan persuaded Yang Nengge?" ”

"What is Yang Nengge lacking the most?"

"Silver." Han Xiufeng reacted and couldn't help asking, "Brother Jianhou, are you saying that he will share the fat with Yang Nengge after receiving the gold?" ”

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean by that?"

Qiao Songnian smiled bitterly: "Zhixing, that friend of yours is really a good hand at collecting people's fat and people's ointment, he knew that Yang Nengge was short of silver, so he bewitched Yang Nengge to ask for the establishment of a township bureau to collect donations from various industries in Minhang and other surrounding towns. Yang Nengge was in a hurry to go to the hospital, not only had he rushed four hundred miles to prepare for the establishment, but also planned to set up the township bureau in Minhang, let your friend be in charge, and even let the new Minhang patrol and director of the township bureau. ”

"This Zhou Xingyuan really wants what Lord Yang wants, and he is anxious about what Lord Yang is anxious about."

"I think he is seeking skin with the tiger, and I don't ask who Yang Nengge is."

"Jianhou doesn't know, Lord Yang is not easy to serve, this Zhou Xingyuan is not a fuel-efficient lamp, he is a person who has been transported to Yunnan copper and squatted in the prison of the Criminal Department, not to mention that he now has the support of Xiang Shuai and Master Peng. Lord Yang can only use him, and it is not so easy to unload the mill and kill the donkey. ”

"He has transported Yunnan copper, and he has also squatted in the prison of the Criminal Department?"

"I also worked as a county master for a few days."

"I see, it seems that I underestimated him."

Looking at Qiao Songnian's thoughtful appearance, Han Xiufeng said lightly: "He is him, I am me, not to mention that Lord Yang will not treat him as his own person, even if he treats him as a confidant, he will not look down on me Han Si because of him." ”

"And what's next for you?" Qiao Songnian asked subconsciously.

"Thanks to you, to be the official now, I can't quit if I want to, I can only take one step at a time, what else can I plan."

"Zhixing, I'm sorry, I really didn't expect Yang Nengge to be so pedantic before."

"What's the use of talking about this now, let's talk about the things in front of you, when exactly does Lord Xu plan to attack the city?"

Sun Tzu said: Ten will surround it, and five will attack it. It is reported that there are more than 10,000 chaotic parties in the city, and together with the brave warriors recruited by Wu Jianzhang and Sun Feng these days, Lord Xu's men are full of less than 10,000 usable soldiers, and the guns and other ordnance are not well-organized, how can this city be attacked? You can only surround it first, first build siege equipment such as ladders, and wait for reinforcements at the same time. ”

Qiao Songnian put down the teacup and added: "Although there is no large-scale siege of the city, but the battle has already begun, before I came, Lord Xu has ordered Xue Huan, Liu Cunhou, Hu Songlin and Qin Ruhu to send more battalions to intercept and kill the chaotic party." Yang Nengge was not idle, and it is said that he had ordered people to capture more than a dozen eyes and ears of the rebels. ”

Han Xiufeng didn't expect the incident in Yangzhou to repeat itself in Shanghai, and was thinking about how long the city would be attacked, Qiao Songnian said again: "Lord Xu asked Wu Jianzhang to donate 200,000 taels to replenish his salary, Wu Jianzhang really has money, and he sent someone to send the silver early this morning." However, this silver is of great use, and it is necessary to take out 50,000 taels to purchase military funds such as guns and gunpowder, and to take out 80,000 taels to pay the soldiers, because they have been in arrears for more than two months, and the remaining tens of thousands of taels will be used to recruit brave soldiers. ”

Han Xiufeng didn't have the idea of this money, nodded slightly, and then changed his words: "Brother Jianhou, the nephew of Mr. Wu of Rishengchang is going to take a boat back to Beijing by sea tomorrow, do you want him to bring a letter home?" ”

"No need, I just asked someone to bring a letter to my family a few days ago."

"Where's Kyori's classmates?"

"It stands to reason that Jingxin should be long-term, but it is an eventful time, and compared to those officials who have done the least in the same year, I will not bother them, and I will not lose this person."

Speaking of this, Han Xiufeng couldn't help but ask: "Jianhou, who are you who are the most prosperous in the same year, how many grades of official residence are there now, and what position do you hold?" ”

Qiao Songnian sighed: "If you want to say that the official luck is the most prosperous, it is Ye Mingchen. At the age of thirty-eight, he became the governor of Guangdong, and last year he was awarded the governor of Liangguang, which is two or three years older than me, and he is already a feudal official! ”

"So he's in his early forties?"

"Yes, that's why he has the most prosperous official fortune and the strongest holy family."

"How did he get to the Governor of Liangguang?" Han Xiufeng asked curiously.

"Suppressing bandits and putting down chaos has merit, don't look at Changmao and most of the chaotic parties in the city are from Liangguang, but with him in charge of bombing, Liangguang is not chaotic. According to friends in Beijing, the good news of Liangguang was one after another, and the roster of bandits who were awarded the head was piled up several feet high, as if they were busy ordering people to visit the ancestral graves of Hong Xiuquan and other bandit leaders during this time, and planned to dig those long-haired ancestral graves. ”

Han Xiufeng couldn't help but think of Xu Laogui, who was also ruthless, and couldn't help but sigh: "Not only does he kill people like hemp, but he also plans to dig up people's ancestral graves, he really knows how to be an official." ”

Qiao Songnian not only didn't think that Ye Mingchen was ruthless, but even admired it a little, and said lightly: "In troubled times, you and I, as officials of the imperial court, must not be benevolent to women." ”

Han Xiufeng muttered: "I'm greedy for life and afraid of death, and I don't like to kill people, so people like me can only be a peace officer, but now it's not peaceful today, this official really doesn't know what to do." ”

"I don't know how to do it, I've already achieved the fifth grade, if I know how to do it, then what's the matter with me Qiao Songnian?" Qiao Songnian scolded with a smile, thought about it and said: "But then again, Yang Nengge is really not good at serving, if you want to get out, you can only negotiate with the foreigners quickly, as long as you can recover the tariffs on the commercial goods of England and France, even if you want to do it, you can't do it." ”

"This is to the point, if the tariffs on the goods of England and France can be levied according to the old practice, then the fattest one in the world will not be able to negotiate with foreigners."

"No matter how difficult it is, you have to negotiate, this is not only for the court, but also for yourself."

When Han Xiufeng mentioned this, he became angry, raised his arm and pointed to the two official letters sent by Ding Gui on the desk in the morning: "The ministers and consuls of England and France think that I am a small official, and they also know that what I said does not matter, so they don't care about me at all." Yang Nengge, as Su Songtaidao, should have come forward to negotiate with foreigners, but he avoided it, and sent two official documents in the morning for me to forward to the English and French consuls, thinking that the foreigners could be brought into compliance by relying on official documents. ”

"What did he say to foreigners in the official document?"

"Quote scriptures and reason with foreigners. That wording, that tone, even I can't stand it, let alone foreigners. ”

"Since you know that foreigners will be unhappy when they see it, why don't you find someone to translate it into something that foreigners can read?"

"I don't have the guts, and I don't want to be pointed out by thousands of people and leave a reputation for eternity."

"Zhixing, he is pedantic, you can't be pedantic!"

"You don't have a backache when you stand and talk, my Han Si is indeed a donor, and it's nothing to be looked down upon, but what about my baby, I have to think about my baby."

Qiao Songnian realized that he couldn't force people, so he could only say helplessly: "Since this is the case, then you can help transfer it, anyway, this matter can't always be dragged on like this, he Yang Nengge is not in a hurry, the court is in a hurry, when he sees it, do he dare to avoid it again, dare not be a turtle with a shrunken head again." ”

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