At the invitation of Xiao Shandong, Qingxian walked into the flower hall called "Listening to Yuxuan", which was actually only a little larger than his concierge.

After sitting down and waiting for a while, Xiao Shandong came with a kettle and made a cup of tea. Qingxian smiled and thanked him, picked up the tea and tasted it slowly. looks calm, treats kindly, every word and deed, every move, can really make people feel the demeanor of the children of the official eunuch family.

But Han Xiufeng knew very well that he was far from being so calm, walked in and arched his hand, sat down and exchanged a few words, and then asked straight to the point: "Brother, coming to the humble house today, it's not just as simple as celebrating Xiufeng's housewarming, right?" ”

As Han Xiufeng expected, Qingxian was calm on the surface, but he was nervous, uncomfortable and even angry in his heart.

He thought that the old man had already paid the price for what happened before, and he had been demoted from a university scholar to a member of the Ministry of Works, and the past should have passed. And he has been cautious and honest all these years.

A few years ago, Changmao was a criminal in the north, and he went to the excerpt to ask for nitrate, gunpowder, weapons and other items, and he should strictly prevent theft and smuggling. Inside and outside the capital, traitors should be dealt with. The emperor not only complied with it, but also ordered all the officials in charge of the Beijing camp to supervise the soldiers and protect them strictly. He also ordered the commander of the infantry army to verify the storage of nitrate in the flower explosion workshops inside and outside the capital, and put an end to the private purchase of bandits. Strictly investigate the traitors who took shotguns, waist knives and other weapons out of the city privately.

In March this year, the emperor went to the Xiannong altar as usual to worship the gods of Fuxi Shennong, the gods of mountains and rivers, and the Tai Sui of the year. Then the Yuguan cultivator ordered Prince Yu Yidao, Keqin County Wang Qinghui, and Chengjun Wang Zairui each five pushes. He also ordered him, the general secretary of the general political department, to push nine civil and military ministers such as Wenqing, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Xu Zeol, the secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Zhu Fengbiao, the secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Hua Shana, the right attendant of the Ministry of Works, Lang Linggui, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, and Lang Wenqing, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites!

At that time, I really thought that the emperor would no longer care about the previous things, but as soon as the foreigners' warships arrived at Dagukou, the emperor issued an order to reprimand, so angry that the old man splashed ink and wrote the disrespectful pair, and was afraid that others would not know that they would hang the pair in the main hall.

It's too late to say anything now, in fact, he had prepared for the worst three or five days ago to be imprisoned or even given death. The reason why he behaved so calmly was that he just wanted to die with some dignity even if he died.

Seeing that Han Xiufeng, who had just been a colleague for a few days and had only met once before, asked knowingly, Qingxian didn't want to go around in circles anymore, slowly stood up and straightened his clothes, bowed slightly, and said without humility or arrogance: "Senator Han, Qingxian came to listen to the order." ”

"Listen?" Han Xiufeng stared at him and asked.

Soldiers can be killed but not humiliated, Qingxian has already put life and death out of the way, and feels that the emperor is humiliating him by letting him come to Han Xiufeng to listen to it, the three words "Master Han" are really unspeakable, and he arched his hand again: "Qingxian is sent by Senator Han, what Senator Han needs Qingxian to do, just give orders!" ”

Han Xiufeng knew that he was a smart man, but he didn't expect that a catastrophe was coming, not only did he not plead with a handful of snot and tears, but also reversed the previous polite gentleman's style, and became so unruly.

He must be unwilling, unconvinced, and even full of resentment towards the emperor like his father. Thinking of a person who was not even afraid of death dared to say anything and could do anything, Han Xiufeng realized that he couldn't just ask him for silver, he must have thought of a way to make him come out willingly.

"Brother Qingxian, don't hide it, Xiufeng has heard some about your family." Han Xiufeng beckoned him to sit down, and said slowly: "You just said that you came to me by order to listen to it, so do you know what I do, or what the emperor ordered me to do?" ”

Qingxian didn't sit down, just stood in front of Han Xiufeng and said coldly: "Qingxian doesn't know, Qingxian is guilty, and he doesn't want to know this." ”

Han Xiufeng looked at him with a smile and asked, "I don't know anything, what is the use of that brother coming to me to listen to?" ”

Qingxian didn't expect that the uneducated and unskilled person in front of him would actually smile, and he didn't expect that the lucky villain in front of him would ask this, but he was asked for a while, and he was at a loss, not knowing how to answer.

"Take a look, this is the errand that the emperor ordered Xiufeng to do." Han Xiufeng took out a fold from his sleeve, and the one that he carefully transcribed had been entrusted to Su Shun in the morning, this one was written by Wang Naizeng, and it was intended to be kept for archiving.

Qingxian took the fold with a ghost, opened it and looked at it carefully, and after reading it, he was taken aback, staring at Han Xiufeng and still didn't know what to say.

Han Xiufeng took the fold from his hand, gently put it aside, and said meaningfully: "Brother Qingxian, in fact, Xiufeng was as puzzled as you when he first heard the letter, thinking that it would be bad for the emperor to send someone to listen to it, so he had to send you." Now that I think about it, the emperor didn't mean to let your family fall from somewhere and get up again, what do you think? ”

Investigate and sort out the situation, and consult with the ministers of military aircraft and even the emperor's advisers!

Qingxian didn't expect the emperor to let Han Xiufeng do this, and then thinking of what Han Xiufeng had just said, a glimmer of hope suddenly ignited in his heart, and he actually muttered, "Is the emperor really thinking so?" ”

"The holy will is unpredictable, Xiufeng doesn't dare to figure it out."

"It should be, otherwise the emperor wouldn't have let me come here."

"Brother Qingxian, Xiufeng thinks that no matter whether it is or not, since you are here, you might as well be safe when you come." Han Xiufeng stood up and invited him to sit down, and said earnestly: "Thunder, rain and dew are all Jun's grace, you and I, as courtiers, can no longer make the emperor unhappy." ”

"Brother Han is right, Qingxian is confused."

"You and I are colleagues, it's okay to be confused here, but you can't be confused again when you go out of this door."

"Qingxian understands, Brother Xie Han mentioned it."

"Why are you polite again, the top priority is how to pass this level," Han Xiufeng patted him on the arm and reminded.

Qingxian reacted and hurriedly said: "Brother Han, before I came, Su Shun said, if you don't have anything here, let me prepare something, and I have to do what you ask me to do." Let's put aside what you want to do, or tell us what you're missing. ”

"Lack of silver."

"How much is missing?"

"As much as my brother can come up with, I will lack here." Seeing that Qingxian was stunned again, Han Xiufeng simply arched his hand in the direction of the palace: "Even if we don't need so much here for a while, we can also submit the extra to the emperor, and then ask for it when we need to use it." ”

Qingxian understood it like an empowerment, and thought that after all, it was still a raid, but thinking that the lives of the whole family were almost gone, what was the use of asking for so much silver, and said with a wry smile: "Cash...... Think of a way, seventy or eighty thousand taels should be able to raise. If the shops, houses and farms outside the city are realized, it is estimated that they can be worth 30,000 or 40,000 taels. ”

"After selling the house, where do the big families live, as for those shops and the farms outside the city, let's keep them for the time being, after all, this day has to go on."

"Then I'll raise 80,000 taels first?"

"Eighty thousand taels should be enough," Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and then said: "Brother Qingxian, the emperor asked you to come to me not only to let you pay the money, but also to let you come on an errand." Xiufeng has a reluctant request, planning to wait for the silver to be delivered, please take charge of the 'Houyi Hall' money and food expenditures and corresponding accounts. ”

Qingxian is a smart person, how could he not guess Han Xiufeng's good intentions, and immediately stood up and made a deep gesture: "As the saying goes, adversity sees the truth, please ask Brother Han to be worshiped by Qingxian." ”

"Brother Qingxian, what are you doing, Brother Qingxian, please get up."

……

After sending Qingxian away, Han Xiufeng finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the silver was finally available, and he didn't offend people to death. If the emperor really kills them all in the future, he will not give them the whole family a way to live. There is a debtor and a debtor, and when the time comes, those protégés of Qiying can only complain about the emperor in their hearts, and they can't complain about him, who once wanted to help Qingxian.

was feeling that accompanying the king was like accompanying the tiger, and Fei Erye accompanied Shi Zanqing and Wang Qianli into the inner courtyard with a smile on his face.

Han Xiufeng hurriedly cheered up and went up to say hello, and when he heard that the banquet was ready, he hurriedly asked Xiao Shandong to invite Wang Naizeng.

The old people reunited, and the guests and hosts enjoyed a meal of wine.

After eating, he came to Tingyuxuan and sat down, Shi Zanqing smiled bitterly: "Zhixing, Qianli and I entered Beijing this time, not only to reimburse the river work, but also to be entrusted by others to make friends with you." ”

"Uncle Shi, who are you entrusted with?" Han Xiufeng asked puzzled.

"Who else can there be besides Lord Wu, didn't he impeach you, I heard that you not only became a 'little military machine', but also took charge of the Dengwen Drum Hall, worried that you would embarrass him, so I pulled down my old face and begged me to help make peace."

Han Xiufeng was ridiculed, and laughed self-deprecatingly: "It seems that in his mind, I, Han Xiufeng, am still a villain, and others spend the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, but he is good, he actually spends the belly of a villain with the heart of a gentleman, hahaha, it's ridiculous to think about it!" ”

"I told him that you weren't the kind of person with a small belly, but he didn't believe it. But then again, it's really not easy for him to do this as an envoy and Yongding River now, and there are really fewer and fewer officials like him, so don't worry about him. ”

"Yes, Fourth Master, Lord Wu is the one with a strong temper, he is used to talking about things, but he doesn't have any bad intentions." Wang Qianli echoed.

"Where do you want to go, how can I care about him."

"I'm relieved." Shi Zanqing laughed, and then said: "I heard that you have become a 'little military plane', and your old troops are happier than one another, but they all have errands now, and they can't easily enter Beijing, so I asked Qianli to help bring their congratulatory gifts." ”

"Chen Hu, Wang Hedong and Ji Daji, the brothers of Hai'an, one person and five taels. Chen Buchu, Yang Dacheng and others later selected those foreign commissioners and additional external commissioners, each of whom was three taels. I scraped together two hundred taels piecemeal, I said I didn't need it, they had to let me carry it, thinking that this was also their intention, so I could only help them bring it. Wang Qianli smiled, turned around and said, "I have already handed over the silver to the second master." ”

"These stinky boys, it's not easy for them to make some money."

"Zhixing, just tell Qianli, this is also their filial piety, how can they be today without your support, if you don't accept them, they will not be happy." Shi Zanqing thought about it and sighed: "Besides, being a Beijing official is not as good as being a foreign official, although you are now a 'small military machine', you can collect a little ice and pay respect, but there are many kinds of entertainment, and the expenses are also large." ”

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