Zhu Zi and Yu Tiesuo heard the news, Fei Erye and Yu Youfu knew that the emperor would soon have a will, for fear that they would be seen badly by the ministers or guards who passed the decree, so they hurriedly let them go to the guild hall and wait for the news. As a result, as soon as they went to the hall, Huang Zhongyin and Ji Yunfei and other fellow villagers also knew about it one after another, and sighed one by one, regretting it.

Han Xiufeng didn't know that all the villagers were gathered in the hall to wait, so he accompanied Cao Yuying and Wen Xiang from the study to the main hall, looked at the boxes arranged in the courtyard and waited for the news in the palace.

As night fell, there was a hurried sound of horses' hooves outside.

As soon as the three of them stood up, three imperial guards in yellow coats strode into the courtyard, shouting "The emperor's edict, Han Xiufeng, the counselor of the General Political Department, Zhang Jing, Cao Yuying, the foreman of the military machine, and Wenxiang, a member of the Ministry of Works, received the order", and then crossed the threshold and walked to the incense case.

Han Xiufeng hurriedly dusted off his sleeves, knelt down and said, "Minister Han Xiufeng respectfully invites Saint Ann!" ”

"Minister Cao Yuying, please Saint Ann!"

"Slave Wen Xiang respectfully invites St. Ann!"

"St. Bow." The imperial guards who passed the decree took a closer look and confirmed that it was these three, and said in a low voice: "The counselor of the General Political Division, the foreman of the military machine Zhang Jing Cao Yuying, and the member of the Ministry of Works, Wailang Wenxiang, etc., are cowardly, Haotian is reckless, and Han Xiufeng, the counselor of the General Political Department, is grieving, rewarding the stagecoach, and allowing him to return to his hometown and keep filial piety." Wailang Wenxiang, a member of the Ministry of Labor, was ordered to assist in the camp affairs of the patrol department, and ordered the foreman of the military aircraft Zhang Jing Cao Yuying to report to the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department, and the rest of the affairs were ordered to step down as the counselor of the General Administration Department Han Xiufeng to explain clearly. ”

"The ministers obey the order, thank the emperor for his grace!"

"Obey the order!"

……

The imperial guards waited for Wen Xiang to thank him, and then said, "Three of you, please get up, Master Han, I bother you to take a step to speak." ”

"Okay, this way, please." Han Xiufeng reacted and hurriedly invited the imperial guards who passed the decree into the inner courtyard.

As a result, before he arrived at the study, the imperial guard stopped and said, "Master Han, just a few words, you don't need to go in." ”

"Please."

"The emperor allows you to play in the compromise, and orders you to explain your official affairs to Lord Cao and Master Wen, and order Master Wen to hand over the sign to meet you early in the morning."

Han Xiufeng realized that this was the emperor's commandment, and hurriedly knelt down and said, "The minister obeys the order." ”

The imperial guard took out three silver tickets from his sleeves, and said with a little envy and sympathy: "Master Han, these three hundred taels are rewarded by the emperor, and the emperor originally wanted to directly reward you with one hundred taels of silver to return to your hometown, and two hundred taels of silver to let you return to your hometown for funeral, but it is not in line with the case to think that doing so, so you can only take out these three hundred taels of silver and reward them privately." ”

The university scholar died before giving a thousand taels of silver for funeral, and a small Zhengwupin senator died and his father wanted to return to his hometown to worry, if he gave both a coil and a silver for funeral, Han Zhan Kedao would definitely admonish after knowing it. Although these three silver tickets were sent last time, Han Xiufeng was still moved to tears of gratitude.

"Master Han, please get up, go back to the palace first to restore your life, and you should hurry up and explain your business to Lord Cao and Master Wen."

"Okay, I'll send you."

"Don't send it, you want to mourn, the emperor is still waiting for you to return to Beijing after the mourning."

"Well, since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety can't be both, and when Xiufeng finishes his filial piety, he will definitely come back to serve the emperor."

……

Cao Yuying, who had just sent away the imperial guards who had just sent the decree away, was extremely disappointed to confirm what he had done before and what he would have to do in the future, and he said goodbye when he saw that it was not early.

Although he didn't have anything to explain to him, Han Xiufeng still arched his hand in the direction of the Forbidden City, and said very seriously and sincerely: "Lord Cao, the emperor has given permission, from now on you will be the treasurer of the Han University of the 'Houyi Hall', Xiufeng has stepped down, and everything in the hall in the future will be entrusted to you and Brother Jianchuan." ”

"Yuying is deeply favored by the emperor, and it is within her duty to serve the imperial court, Brother Han is serious." Kong rejoiced, Cao Yuying really didn't want to stay here longer, so she returned the salute, and then turned around and said: "Brother Jianchuan, the foolish brother will go first, and Ming'er will come over after work." ”

"Your Excellency."

"Stay, Brother Han must have a lot of things to explain to you, I can't delay Brother Han returning to his hometown for funeral."

Cao Yuying said to go, Wen Xiang was very embarrassed, Han Xiufeng didn't care so much, invited Wen Xiang into the study in the inner courtyard again, closed the door and said: "Brother Jianchuan, the emperor ordered you to help with the camp affairs of the patrol department, which can be described as well-intentioned." ”

The patrol office was set up last year when Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang led their thieves to invade Zhili in the north, so that officers and men of the Eight Banners Green Battalion from Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, and Guanwai could be uniformly dispatched to fortify and suppress Changmao in Gyeonggi, Zhili, and Shandong prefectures and counties, and to plan for the ordnance and rations needed for the blockade and suppression, to train regimental defense, and to arrest and even try Changmao's spies and prisoners.

Prince Hui is the general of the patrol department, and the monk Grinqin, Hua Shana, and Da Honga are the ministers of the patrol king, and there are four supervising and sealing officers, several wing chiefs, and eighteen clerks, all of whom are the emperor's special messengers.

It has a document office dedicated to the transfer of troops and horses and the transfer of chapters and documents, a battalion office dedicated to inspecting the accumulation and escort of ordnance and gunpowder in the city, a trial office that hears various cases and cases related to Changmao, and a grain station office responsible for the distribution of patrol offices and money and food for officers and soldiers in various localities. Not only robbed the errand of the military department and the household department, but even the same as the criminal department, the Yamen, the commander of the Shuntian Mansion and the infantry army, became his subordinates, which shows how powerful this temporary yamen is!

The reason why the river camp was dismembered was precisely because the river camp was obviously stationed in Gyeonggi but did not listen to the patrol office, and there was no room for two tigers in one mountain, and the Manchu and Mongolian princes with heavy troops in the patrol office naturally would not let Su Shun sit big.

Thinking of this, Han Xiufeng continued: "The emperor obviously has several considerations for giving you this part-time errand, first, if you don't have a part-time errand, you have to go to the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry every day to make a point, and you can't concentrate on exploring and sorting out and verifying the situation; The second is that you are now just a member of the fifth grade, and if you want to really entrust you with important responsibilities, you can't have some qualifications, and you can share some military merits by doing an errand in the patrol department; Moreover, if you are allowed to walk on the military aircraft Zhang Jing as a registered name like me, you will become Cao Yuying's subordinate like me, and the official affairs in the hall will not be easy to handle. ”

"I know, I ......"

"Brother Jianchuan, I know what you want to say, now is not the time to say that, not to mention that the reason why I am promoting you is not out of selfishness." Han Xiufeng didn't want to delay his work any longer, so he took out a stack of letters written in the afternoon and made a few lists, and explained: "Although you haven't seen my friend Wang Naizeng, you should have heard Qingxian mention it, he is just my friend and the military advisor of our 'Houyi Hall', I hope you can continue to hire him." ”

"Zhixing, I have seen the urgent letters and letters he sent back, and I can see that he is really a great talent, even if you don't mention it, I will continue to hire him."

"This is the silver ticket sent by Wu Jianzhang a few days ago, Wu Jianzhang is very greedy, and there are many people who impeach him, and he can't wait to make him Lingchi. But we are not imperial historians, and the errands we do are not white or black, so such people must not only be used, but also protected, otherwise we will become deaf and blind. A total of six thousand taels, Han Xiufeng left two thousand taels, and gently pushed the remaining four thousand taels of silver tickets in front of Wen Xiang: "I will leave some to maintain the livelihood of the whole family, and you will keep these for the reappointment of Wang Naizeng next year and the year after." ”

Wen Xiang knew very well that he couldn't do anything without silver, so he took the silver ticket and said, "Zhixing, then I'm ashamed." ”

"Don't be so polite, get down to business." Han Xiufeng pointed to the written letter, and continued: "Xue Huan, who is quelling the chaos in Shanghai, is not only a fellow villager with me, but also an honest official, not a pedantic person, you can find him for things in Shanghai." Counting the days ago, Liang Huaiyun sentenced Han Chen to step down, I begged Lord Su Shun to help him find a vacancy of the deputy envoy of the Changlu Yanyun Division, and when he arrived in the capital, you handed him this letter, and then ordered him to go to Tianjin to set up a branch. ”

"Yourself? It was also sent out by our 'Houyitang'? ”

"Not before, but he's a reliable person. The reason why I want you to send him to Tianjin to set up a branch is that all the news, official documents, and personnel have to be transferred in Tianjin, and second, Wang Naizeng got a steamboat from Wu Jianzhang. You have seen the pattern of the steam engine, and you know how great it is, and others regard it as a trick and trick, so we can't take it seriously. ”

Han Xiufeng took a deep breath and continued: "I've always wanted to get one to be disassembled and see how it was cast, but this matter is not trivial, not to mention that there is no way to get the steamship to the capital, even if it can get the capital, it will cause an uproar, so I can only find a place in Tianjin." ”

Wen Xiang subconsciously asked: "Please ask the emperor to send the craftsmen of the manufacturing office to disassemble it and take a look?" ”

"That's what I'm thinking, but I'll leave it to you." Thinking that a lot of things to be done in the future are not one or two points difficult, Han Xiufeng stared at Wen Xiang's eyes, and said very seriously: "Brother Jianchuan, I know you want to do something, but the errand we are doing is really shady, so you must not be in a hurry after becoming this big shopkeeper, these things we are doing, those preparations we are making, may not be used now, and may not even be used in the next three or five years, but I am sure that sooner or later we will be able to use it!" ”

"It's nature."

"In short, we have to be cautious, we must slow down, and we must not let the 'Houyitang' be strangled in infancy by those pedantic people."

Han Xiufeng handed over the list to Wen Xiang, thought about it and sighed: "Although there are many things I want to do but I haven't had time to do them, I don't regret it." Because even if I continue to be the treasurer, it will be difficult for me to do these things on the list. Brother Jianchuan, you are different from me, you are not only a Manchurian but also one of the few Jinshi among the Manchurians, you just didn't have a chance before, but now that you have the opportunity, you will definitely be able to make a splash without a sound. When you are a great minister, these things can be done, not only can be done, but can be done. ”

Wen Xiang could hear that these were all heartfelt words, and he didn't know what to say, Han Xiufeng continued: "Although the river camp has been dismantled, the shelf is still there, and there are still more than two hundred soldiers, and now some of them are in Gu'an, some are in Zhuozhou, some are in Wanping, and some are in Yongqing. The military attachés of President Qian and General are all brothers who were born and died with me, and the soldiers are all young and strong people who were carefully selected by me from Gu'an and other counties. Although they are now stationed in the floods, they are only scattered, and their spirit is not dispersed, not only have they not put swords and guns into the warehouse, and they still insist on training. ”

Wen Xiang was secretly frightened when he heard this, thinking that you actually have so many soldiers in Gyeonggi!

How could Han Xiufeng not know what he would think, and hurriedly explained: "Lord Sushun knows about this matter, and the emperor also knows, in fact, these people were left behind by the emperor and Lord Sushun when the river camp was dismantled, but now I can't remember it, but we can't forget it." A few days ago, when Wu Jianzhang sent someone to deliver a silver ticket, he sent 40 firebird guns by the way, and I asked them to send the guns to Zhuozhou Prefecture to judge Wang Qianli.

With the addition of the previous shotguns and carrying guns, it is now estimated that there are 100 firearms. I'll hand over all these people and these firearms to you, if Gyeonggi is too peaceful, you won't have it, and if there is something in Gyeonggi, you can use it. I don't care if I don't want to use them, I just want you to treat them well, because they are all brothers who have been born and died with me. ”

Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang fled to Shandong, and many people really thought that Gyeonggi was too peaceful.

Wen Xiang didn't think so, because the foreigner warship had just sailed south from Tianjin, and he knew very well that all this was just the beginning, and the foreigner didn't get what he wanted, and with the foreigner's temperament, he would go and return sooner or later. When the time comes, no one knows whether the war will be fought or not, and if you really want to start a war, you have to prepare early.

Thinking of this, Wen Xiang couldn't help asking, "Will they listen to me?" ”

"I'll listen." Han Xiufeng handed the letter into his hand and said solemnly: "With my letter, plus the big head, they will definitely look at you." In addition, there are many brothers from Heying in the patrol camp, and a few of them have come to my hometown in Sichuan to join me. ”