Seeing Lin Fan's appearance for the rest of his life after the catastrophe, Zhou Chang smiled angrily: "What, now that you are down-to-earth, don't you feel scared?" Look at the way you just looked, like I'm going to eat you! ”

Lin Fan scratched his scalp embarrassedly and smiled awkwardly.

He finally understood why Zhou Chang said those words to him just now, he really treated him as a junior, and he wanted to mention something to him, so he would say so much to him.

Otherwise, Zhou Chang has been in the officialdom for so many years, how can he not know the good and evil of people's hearts.

Even if he admired Lin Fan again, how could he say these things to a person who had just met for the first time!

If he hadn't even been cautious at all, in this officialdom where people's hearts are like abyss and conspiracy and calculations are everywhere, Zhou Chang would have died a long time ago, let alone have today's status.

Lin Fan asked a little uncertainly: "Since Lord Ministries and my father know each other, and my father asked the Ministry to take care of me, why did my father never mention this matter to me in his letters?" Even I've never heard my father mention the Ministry? ”

Zhou Chang knew that Lin Fan hadn't fully trusted himself, so he was knocking on the side to see if he was really familiar with Lin Ruxian.

If you are not very familiar with Lin Ruxian's relationship, as the so-called saying too much will be lost, then it is inevitable that some horses will be leaked in your next speech and demeanor, and it is difficult to hide Lin Fan, who has been with Lin Ruxian day and night for more than ten years.

And Lin Ruxian will never entrust his only son to a person he doesn't know, which is undoubtedly equivalent to pushing his son into the fire pit.

For Lin Fan's vigilance, Zhou Chang was very satisfied.

If he only relied on this letter in his hand, he would be very arrogant, and he would not even have the slightest suspicion of himself, it would be difficult for such a person to go too far in the officialdom, and sooner or later he would fall into the calculations of others.

Those who want to achieve great things throughout the ages can not learn or do these tricks of treachery and scheming, but they must not know or understand.

Many people have been mixed in the officialdom all their lives, and at the last moment, they were seized just because of a trivial matter, and the whole family was ruined, and this kind of thing was not uncommon in the history books of all dynasties.

If Lin Fan didn't even have this guard in his heart, Zhou Chang might not say anything on the surface. It's just that he will inevitably look down on Lin Fan a few points, and he will even secretly write a letter to Lin Ruxian, suggesting that this old friend let Lin Fan resign and return to his hometown.

In this way, although there is no big deal, but at least you can live a safe life, with the influence and financial resources of the Lin family in Jiangzhou, it is no problem for Lin Fan to enjoy a lifetime of glory and wealth. It's better than being calculated in officialdom and losing your life!

Zhou Chang buried this relief in his heart, and taught Lin Fan with a smile: "It's all said to be secret, if I tell you kid, can it still be called secret?" ”

In order to dispel the doubts in Lin Fan's heart, he continued: "I am an old acquaintance with your father, because of the Jin Si Nanmu case, there was a change in Shuzhou, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry were beaten to death by angry people. Those people were condemned as anti-people by the imperial court, and the official sent by the imperial court to quell the rebellion at that time was me. ”

"It's just that after I arrived in Shuzhou, those people have already taken the initiative to go to your father to confess their sins and be imprisoned by your father, so there is no peace of mind."

"I was going to put them all to death in accordance with the laws of the court, but your father came to me again and again and asked me to postpone the disposal. Then he kept writing to the court, asking the court to be lenient with those people. ”

"After understanding the whole thing,

At last, I was impressed by your father, and agreed to his request to suspend the execution of the people. ”

"I didn't expect that your father really did it later, and he successfully saved most of the people and let the court exempt them from capital crimes."

"However, your father also offended a large number of courtiers because of this, especially the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households, not only died, but was also punished by the first emperor for delaying the construction period and increasing expenses, and dismissed a large number of officials, so they can be said to hate your father to the core."

"And your father knew that doing so would anger the first emperor and offend a large number of courtiers, but he still did it without hesitation. In my opinion, an official like your father who really cares about the people is the real pillar of my Great Cloud Dynasty. What your father practiced is the true way of being an official. ”

"After that, I had great respect for your father, and I became friends with him. When we were in Shuzhou, we had many long talks and traveled hand in hand. You had just been born at the time, and I had hugged you! ”

This joke made Lin Fan even more embarrassed, so he could only habitually touch his nose and laugh a few words.

"It's a pity that your father felt the gloom of officialdom at that time, and he was already disheartened, and he had no intention of officialdom anymore, so he resigned and returned to his hometown soon after."

"In the nearly twenty years since then, although I have occasionally exchanged letters with your father, I don't want to disturb the purity of your family, let alone annoy your father with these pickled things in the officialdom."

"So we just talk about the old days on weekdays, or tell some short daily anecdotes of parents. I never told your father about the court, and your father never asked. ”

"It wasn't until two years ago that your father was ordered to go out of the mountain and serve as the imperial history of the imperial history platform, and I was able to meet him again in the capital."

"However, it didn't take long for me to be transferred out of Beijing and become the governor of the Central Plains Province, so I had to say goodbye to your father again."

"After the Battle of Yongyang, your father was worried about your safety and feared that you would be in any danger again, so he wrote this letter to me. It was only then that I learned that the son of my old friend had also come out to be an official. ”

"Since then, I have been following you, and I know a lot about what you have been doing lately, but I didn't have the opportunity to meet you until today."

Listening to Zhou Chang's words, Lin Fan's doubts disappeared.

He said ashamedly: "It's the heart of the villain, please punish the ministry!" ”

Zhou Chang didn't care about this, he explained Lin Fan and said with a smile: "It's a good thing that young people are so smart, you don't have to mind." Also, there are no outsiders here, so you don't have to call me a minister, just call me uncle. ”

"This...!" Lin Fan was a little overwhelmed.

"Why, you don't want to? Forget it, I've never been in the habit of forcing others! Zhou Chang pretended to be unswerving and said.

Zhou Chang is a feudal official of the imperial court, a member of the first rank, not to mention an uncle, that is, to be someone else's grandfather, and there are also a lot of people vying to be his grandson.

He asked Lin Fan to call him uncle, naturally not to take advantage of Lin Fan verbally, but to really treat him as his own nephew. Other people are willing to shout, but he may not be willing to agree!

"It's not, it's just...!" Lin Fan naturally didn't know this, so he hurriedly argued.

"Since it's not unwilling, then it's nothing, a manly man, what's the matter with my mother-in-law!" Zhou Chang interrupted him.

Lin Fan originally wanted to say that officialdom pays the most attention to the dignity and humility,

I am afraid that doing so will break the rules and have a bad impact.

However, Zhou Chang's words dispelled his concerns, and the governor didn't care about this, you said that you are a little five- or six-grade official, what are you still squirming!

"Okay!" Lin Fan agreed to come down.

Lin Fan rearranged his clothes, and respectfully made a junior salute to Zhou Chang: "Nephew Lin Fan, I have seen my uncle!" ”

"Well, that's right!" Zhou Chang laughed.

He picked Lin Fan up: "Virtuous nephew, hurry up and excuse me!" ”

Lin Fan smiled shyly: "Uncle Xie!" ”

Although this is just a set of false courtesies, after this, the relationship between the two has become much closer invisibly.

Zhou Chang saw this young man who was vaguely similar to his old friend, and suddenly sighed: "The love between father and son is really reasonable, and your father doesn't like to talk about personal affairs in officialdom the most." ”

"I have known him for 20 years, and I have a great friendship, and he has never entrusted me with anything, but now he is making an exception for you, which can be described as licking the calf. Do not disappoint your father! ”

Lin Fan hurriedly said: "Uncle's teachings, juniors remember!" ”

Zhou Chang's words were just feelings, not necessarily Lin Fan had to do something, let alone preaching.

Zhou Chang understands very well that even if he has a good relationship with Lin Ruxian, after all, this is a matter between father and son, and it is not his turn to be an outsider to interfere.

The emotion was over, and the two talked about business again.

Zhou Chang asked Lin Fan: "You led the army north this time to enter the king of Beijing, right?" ”

Lin Fan replied: "Well, before that, my original plan was to lead the army into the Central Plains Road, give a beating to the officers and troops under my uncle's command, and encircle Chen Xinglong. If you have the opportunity, it is best to get some military merits by the way, and add some qualifications for the selection of officials in the future, hehe.... ”

Speaking of this, Lin Fan was a little embarrassed, after all, he was planning to take advantage, so he had to scratch his scalp and laugh embarrassedly twice.

However, seeing that Zhou Chang didn't care about this, he continued to say: "However, the sudden southward movement of the Manzhen army disrupted my plan, and I was urgently summoned to Yangzhou, and then I was ordered by the military order of the governor of Huainan Province, Yamen, to go north to enter the king of Jingqin. ”

Zhou Chang nodded: "Fighting in the north is very risky, and when I was young, I also had a period of training in the eastern Liaodong border army. At that time, I fought against the Manchu army, suffered a lot of losses, and I saw the strength of the Manchu army with my own eyes. ”

"It's not that I'm arrogant, although there are many officials and soldiers in the imperial court, except for a few elites such as the Liaodong border army, there are few who can compete head-on with the Manchu Zhen army."

"Judging from today's situation, although you have defeated Chen Xinglong by tens of thousands of people with thousands of soldiers and horses, this is not enough, or far worse!"

"In the final analysis, Chen Xinglong's thief army is just a defeated army, and the morale of the army has long been gone, so it is not too difficult to defeat them."

"In terms of combat power alone, they are not the same as the Manzhen army at all."

"In fact, whether it is my Central Plains Dao official army or your Huainan Dao Qinwang soldiers and horses, compared with the Manzhen army, they are still a little worse!"

"Therefore you must not be underestimated when you go here, and you must always be careful with ten thousand in your heart, and you must not feel complacent because of one or two victories in this thief."

"In short, you must not take it lightly, otherwise if you are not careful, you may suffer a big loss!"