As soon as these words came out, the door of the house quickly opened from the inside, and the staff who had just gone in came out again and respectfully ushered Lin Fan in.

Lin Fan followed the staff into the room, and secretly watched the situation in the hall with his spare eyes.

Sitting high on the main seat of the hall is a middle-aged civil official in his fifties, who is sitting precariously and wearing the official uniform of a first-class civil official of the imperial court.

Although this person is a little old in appearance, he has a momentum that has been raised by officials all the year round without anger and self-authority, which is intimidating, and he is a person in a high position at first glance.

In the entire Huainan Province officialdom, there is only one person who is qualified to wear a first-class official uniform, and that is Shi Qiuming, the current governor of Huainan Province.

Speaking of which, this was the first time Lin Fan had seen Shi Qiuming.

The closest the two got to each other was when Lin Fan was in Yongyang.

However, after the end of that battle, Shi Qiuming did not enter the city in the end, he just asked Ma Qingze, a member of the Governor's Palace, to pass the order on his behalf.

After that, Lin Fan was taken into custody, and the two had no chance to see each other.

At this time, in addition to the governor Shi Qiuming, there were also Lord Liu, the envoy of Huainan Province who was the second grade, the political envoy from the left and right of the second grade, the envoy of the third grade, and the military generals of the second grade, including Ma Qingze, who was ordered to guard Lin Fan last time, was also among them.

It can be said that all the people in the meeting, except for Ma Qingze and Lin Fan, who are below the third grade, everyone in this room is in scarlet official robes. The main figures in the entire Huainan Province officialdom are here.

These people sitting in this room, as long as they go out at any one and stomp their feet casually, the entire Huainan Provincial officialdom will tremble.

And these people are now sitting in their seats one by one, looking harmless to humans and animals.

From entering the door to the front of the hall, it didn't take a few steps, so Lin Fan didn't dare to look more.

He could only take a cursory look, and then hurriedly withdrew his gaze and honestly followed behind the staff.

Lin Fan stood still in front of the hall, bowed to Shi Qiuming and the others, and said, "Xiaguan Shenzhou has sentenced Lin Fan, see the ministers of the department, I have seen all the adults!" ”

Shi Qiuming did not despise Lin Fan because his official position was not high, and after looking up and down at the somewhat young and excessively handsome official in front of him a few times, he chuckled very kindly: "Lord Lin is exempt, please take a seat!" ”

Lin Fan thanked him: "Thank you, sir!" ”

Waiting for Lin Fan to sit down in the lower position, Shi Qiuming said to the staff again: "Give tea to Lord Lin!" ”

The staff retreated, and a moment later a steaming cup of tea was served.

Lin Fan took the teacup with both hands and thanked him. The staff nodded in response, and stepped back again with the tea tray.

Shi Qiuming made a gesture of invitation to Lin Fan: "Lord Lin has worked hard all the way, and now that the weather is cold, Lord Lin has traveled so far again, so let's take a sip of tea and warm up first." Lord Lin tasted it, this is a rare high-quality tea, which is usually rare! ”

Lin Fan raised the teacup and gently brushed away the floating tea leaves with the tea lid. The steaming heat exudes the fragrance of tea, he smells the tea lightly, only feels the aroma into the nose, and the smoked people's hearts are shaken, making people feel more comfortable.

The tea in the cup was light and elegant, clear and lovely, and it looked refreshed, which made Lin Fan couldn't help but take a sip.

As soon as the warm tea entered his throat, Lin Fan suddenly felt that the fragrance of tea was overflowing.

It's really fragrant and has an endless aftertaste.

After the tea was in his stomach, Lin Fan felt that the cold on his body was driven away by the warmth in the tea, and even the fatigue in his heart dissipated a lot.

Lin Fan reminisced about the fragrance of tea, couldn't help but moan softly, and praised: "This kind of fragrant tea is really good tea!" ”

"How? I'll just say that this Kobayashi-sama is a knowledgeable person, right? Shi Qiuming smiled and said to Master Liu, the envoy of Jingfu, with some pride and show off in his words.

Because Lin Ruxian loves to drink tea, Lin Fan has been no stranger to the tea ceremony since he was a child, and he has drunk a lot of good tea since he was a child, and he is also a treasure of famous teas from all over the world.

But today's tea is also a treasure in the Lin family in Jiangzhou. Even Lin Ruxian's hospitality on weekdays may not be willing to take it out, and Lin Fan is rare to taste such good tea.

After drinking the tea, Lin Fan got up and thanked: "Thank you to the ministry for the tea!" ”

Shi Qiuming said: "Lord Lin doesn't have to be polite, let alone restrained, just sit down and talk!" ”

When Lin Fan sat down again, Shi Qiuming said straight to the point: "The matter is urgent, so I won't go around the bend anymore, let's talk about things directly!" ”

He asked Lin Fan, "Does Lord Lin know anything about the current situation in the north?" If so, how much do you know? ”

Lin Fan shook his head and said, "After receiving the order from the ministry, the lower officials immediately set off. There was little contact with the outside world along the way, and many things could only be learned from the newspapers in the post stations along the way. However, the news in the post house newspaper was too late, and I did not receive any new news along the way, except for His Majesty's edict of King Qin. ”

He paused for a moment, and then said, "But I can roughly guess the current situation of the war in the north!" ”

Shi Qiuming said curiously: "Oh, Lord Lin might as well tell me about his own reasoning?" ”

Lin Fan said: "From the land where the Manchu army entered Gyeonggi, His Majesty issued an edict from King Qin. The capital is nearly two thousand miles away from Yangzhou, and if this edict wants to reach Yangzhou in Huainan, even if it is an eight-hundred-mile rush to deliver the news to the dead post horses, it will take at least four or five days. ”

"After that, it took two or three days for the ministry to send messengers to send orders to the lower officials, and it took another four days for the lower officials to rush to Yangzhou from the front."

"That adds up to more than 10 days. With the speed of the Manjin army's advance, even if Gyeonggiju County desperately blocked it, it was time to advance to Gyeongshi Fortress now. ”

Shi Qiuming nodded and said, "What Lord Lin said is right, it seems that I found the right one for you this time." ”

"According to the latest news from yesterday, the Jingshi has been besieged, and the Manjin iron hooves are raging in Gyeonggi, and the people have been killed and injured countless times. Fortunately, there are more than 100,000 Beijing camps and Janissaries in the capital, although the combat power is not as good as the border army, but according to the city, it can also ensure that the capital is temporarily worry-free. ”

Hearing that there was nothing going on in the capital, Lin Fan also quietly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the capital is still there, his father, who has been promoted to the head of the household department, is in a high position, and the general chaos will not affect him, so Lin Fan will not have to worry too much about his father's safety for the time being.

Shi Qiuming continued: "Lord Lin, do you know why we summoned you to discuss the matter? ”

"It's coming!" Lin Fan's heart tightened, knowing that Shi Qiuming was finally about to get to the point.

Although Lin Fan had a premonition about this in his heart at this time, he still pretended not to know: "The lower officials don't know, please show your name!" ”

Shi Qiuming said: "I plan to let Lord Lin lead your department to represent my Huainan Dao army

Enter the king of Jingqin, drive out the Manchu army, and defend the Jingshi and His Majesty. ”

Lin Fan knew that the advantages of these big people were not so easy to take advantage of, and he had just drunk Shi Qiuming's cup of good tea today, and he was about to be dragged to the front line to sell his life.

Shi Qiuming saw Lin Fan's solemn face and asked, "What?" Do you have any questions? ”

Lin Fan said in a deep voice: "Please forgive the lower official for being presumptuous, the lower official has a question that I don't know whether to ask or not?" ”

Shi Qiuming also knew that people would go to the battlefield willingly, otherwise it would only happen. So he said, "You ask! ”

Lin Fan asked: "There is something unclear about the lower officials, there is no shortage of people in the prefectures and counties of Huainan Province, including this Yangzhou City, but why did you choose me?" ”

Speaking of which, he also deliberately glanced at the commander who had a lion pattern embroidered on his chest.

However, the nominal supreme general of Huainan Province didn't see it at all, only Zhu Tong looked at his nose and nose and heart, as if everything had nothing to do with him.

Shi Qiuming said: "There is indeed no shortage of people who lead troops in Huainan Province, but Huainan Province has been stable for too long, and there are not many people who have really fought. And those who have fought tragic and tough battles in the recent period of time can be said to be the only one. ”

"Another point is that as soon as they heard that they were going to fight with Manzhen, most of the officers and men in the army had already developed a fear of the enemy. At present, only your department has won consecutive victories, and the morale of the army is booming, and it can be worthy of a battle with Manzhen. ”

"And your department is now stationed in Zhongyuan Road, and it is the closest to Shang. To sum up, you are indeed the best candidate to enter the king of Beijing this time. ”

Shi Qiuming's words are high-sounding, and the meaning in and out of the words is that no one is available, so you can only go.

Lin Fan scolded in his heart at this time, if you are afraid of death, aren't I and my brothers afraid of death?

When there were good things before, I didn't see you think of us!

Well, now we're going to send someone to die, and the first one will find us.

The current combat strength of the battalions in Shenzhou, Lin Fan knows best.

It's okay to bully and bully the bandits and bandits and the rogue army in Huainan Road, but if you go to fight against the Manzhen army, you are far from being an opponent at present. Even compared with the Liaodong Border Army, which is weaker in combat strength, there is a big gap.

In this case, if he really fights with the Manzhen army, Lin Fan will definitely not be able to take advantage, and maybe he will have to be swallowed by someone.

However, he scolded in his heart, but Lin Fan didn't dare to put these on his face.

In case he offends these bigwigs and is hated, Lin Fan can only walk away without eating.

It's just that there are some things that should be said or have to be said, if they are simply sent to death, Lin Fan doesn't want to do this matter anyway.

He said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I think you all know the strength of the Manzhen Army, even the most elite Liaodong border army in the imperial court is difficult to confront it head-on, and can only take a defensive position, it is not an exaggeration to say that the world is invincible." ”

"With all due respect, I have won some battles with my men recently. However, if compared with the current battle, those can only be regarded as petty fights at best, and they are not on the table at all, and with the current strength of our army, it is really difficult to compete with them. It's hard to make a contribution, and you may even lose the battle..."

Before Lin Fan finished speaking, one of the people who listened slammed the table and shouted angrily: "Presumptuous! ”