Verse 73 reunion

Lu Yizhong's bedroom is located in a separate courtyard of the mansion on Huifu Street. This courtyard was originally intended for foreign guests. In addition to the main courtyard, there are two cross-courtyards in the east and west. Lu Yizhong lives in the West Cross Courtyard. The house was very comfortable, and there were people around to serve him, but he couldn't go out and was under house arrest in this small world. Looking out of the window of the main house, there is a small courtyard with some flowers and trees.

His mood was a little depressed. Returning to Guangzhou was great news for Lu Yizhong, who was already desperate to be able to return to the mainland. Most of the staff members who were captured in the Battle of Chengmai were ransomed after peace was reached, and the camp was empty, except for a few poor scholars whose families were in the foreign country of Guangdong and had no friends. However, Lu Yizhong never dared to write a letter asking his family to send a ransom. It wasn't until his wife saw that others were coming back one after another, and her husband had no news at all, so she sent a son to Hainan Island with money to look for him.

Lu Yizhong didn't dare to come back. During the interrogation, he told all the information he knew about the Guangdong officialdom and the army. And that's not much - because almost every captured person summoned everything they knew. However, because of greed for life and fear of death, in order to cater to the thief, he not only wrote a letter to the governor suggesting peace, but also said some things that should not be said during the interrogation. As long as the news leaks a little bit when he goes back, even if the court does not punish him, he will become a "traitor" scolded by everyone in Shilin.

The governor is gone, and his biggest backer in officialdom is gone. In the defeat of Qiongzhou, if the imperial court is ready to treat someone's crime, he Lu Yizhong is a scapegoat, and even the charges are ready-made. Anyway, he has no backer, and the fleeing generals can arrange him as much as they want.

Moreover, the thief had no intention of letting him go. Although they allowed his family to send him money, goods, and the like, they never mentioned letting him go. Even the house slaves sent by his wife to serve him were sent back.

This time, the Australian patriarch "talked" with him and asked him to return to Guangzhou with Guo Yi and his entourage, so that he could serve the Australians from then on. Lu Yizhong didn't dare to disobey at all. He knew very well what the Australians had in their hands, and once these things were thrown out, even if the court did not pursue him, he would be immediately ruined. Being ruined and discredited is very terrible for people who rely on the identity and title of a scholar to eat, not to mention that he still has a reputation for being a fellow jinshi, and a person who has served as a prefect for two terms is called "shameless" and "Gu En" for a heavy one.

Therefore, he could only obediently follow Guo Yi and quietly return to Guangzhou, ready to serve as Guo Yi's staff. To be precise, it is to act as a liaison between the Guangzhou station and the government. Before leaving, the Australians told him very clearly that the Guangzhou government would not pursue his affairs, as long as he honestly ran in the middle to serve, no matter what the Australians or the government would do to him.

“…… But if you have any other thoughts, needless to say, we won't tolerate you, and even the governor will not be very happy to see you. The thief who had come to talk to him made an explicit threat.

"Yes, yes, the villain understands" Lu Yizhong nodded again and again, "There is no double heart for the small one"

The Australians bought him clothes and luggage, and returned to him the money and articles that his wife had given him. It's just that the servants are all appointed by Australians. Lu Yizhong embarked on the journey back to Guangzhou in panic and depression.

On the way back to Guangzhou by boat, Guo Yi was also quite polite. I also sent him some fruit from time to time. Sometimes I ask him to have dinner and tea together. The young man who came from abroad in front of him was still honestly frightened in front of him last year, pleasing himself with a smile and a lot of gifts, just to get a few words or a few words that he scribbled at will. Now he has become his own "Dong Weng", and he has to accompany the smiling face. Lu Yizhong's mood was very depressed. However, with his years of cultivation in officialdom, this sense of loss is easy to repair itself. What worries him most is his future.

You don't have to think about it. Originally, he worked as a staff member under Governor Wang for a few years, and then he was recommended out, and it was still possible to mix a certain way, but if it was not good, he would make up a prefect in the rich land of Liangguang. After serving a few terms, you can prepare enough money and food for the rest of your life and your children and grandchildren. But it's no longer possible right now.

As for going out and becoming a staff member again, I'm afraid it will be difficult with his current reputation. There are already legends outside that the culprit of Wang Dou's rash dispatch of troops and the fiasco of Qiongzhou was a cadre of his staff who raised troops for the sake of their own fame and fortune -- this statement is not made up by the intelligence department: there are many officials in Guangdong who are eager to shirk their responsibilities, and the governor is no longer there, and his staff members who have lost their power are naturally the most hode scapegoats.

Therefore, all the staff members who were originally under the shogunate of the governor were all gray, except for a few who were recruited by other officials, most of them scattered and left Guangdong. Lu Yizhong, as a confidant in front of the former governor, has the reputation of "falling into the nest of bandits", and no one will come to ask for advice.

"The so-called starvation is small, and the loss of discipline is big, and the belief is very great," Lu Yizhong said bitterly. Since it has been out of line, there is only suicide, and if you don't commit suicide and want to live well, you can only "sell". Thinking of this, it seems to be a broken boat, which can be regarded as a little reassuring.

"Even if the thieves can't support it in Guangzhou one day, it is still possible to protect the island of Qiongzhou. It's a big deal to move the family south and live on the island for a long time, so that I can spend the rest of my life."

Lingao's current living standard and prosperity state, Lu Yizhong has seen it. If you have to spend the rest of your life at altitude, it's not a bad choice.

When he first arrived in Guangzhou, Guo Yi did not arrange anything for him. Just take care of him and write a letter to his family to report his safety. Take a break on Wheatford Street first. After that, he was not called for several days. In the boring waiting, he who had already made up his mind to sell himself became suspicious, for fear that the Australians would not be ready to reuse him, which made his mood very low.

Just when he was bored, a shout came from the door:

"Master"

The person who came was the manservant sent by the Australians to serve him, and Lu Yizhong knew that he was most likely the eyeliner sent by the Australians. "What's the matter?" he asked. ”

This is Guo Dongzhu to take care of the villain, he said: Please take a look at the two days first. In addition, tomorrow I will invite the master to go out and pay a visit together. Please prepare in advance. ”

What the servants sent was the new "Jin Gentleman" from the bookstore, the copy of the palace copied from the yamen, and some copies of the folds collected from various sources. He flipped through it, and almost all of the memoranda of the principal officials of the province and Guangxi had been copied, dated to the last few months.

Lü Yizhong knew that this was to grasp the basic situation of Guangdong and the imperial court by himself, so as to be used as Guo Yi's adviser. It seems that there is still a possibility for Australians to reuse themselves. Thinking of this, the originally depressed mood improved slightly.

The next day, Guo Yi took Lu Yizhong to sit in two unobtrusive small sedan chairs and went all the way to the Lotus House on Henan Island. This is the place where Li Fengjie, the representative of the Navy, and the Pearl River Detachment of the Navy negotiated peace. He came here to meet with Li Xijue to discuss the aftermath.

Li Xijue was originally a person in the governor's shogunate, although he was quite talented, and he was recommended to participate in the governor's shogunate, and his status was not low, but he was not very trusted. Li Fengjie asked him to handle "Australian affairs", which was tantamount to stuffing a hot potato into his hands. In the officialdom of Guangdong, there are still a few people who can handle Hongmao, Franc Ji and other places, but there is no one who can handle "Macao affairs".

Li Xijue is the official person responsible for contacting Australians, and the first thing at the moment is to "return compensation". Although he is not an official, he is still Li Fengjie's staff. Although everyone knows his identity, it is inconvenient to have too much contact with Guangzhou Station.

Li Xijue is not entirely clear about what agreement Dong Weng and the Australians have reached, but the fact that he knows is enough to scold people as "traitors". So be especially careful. For the sake of safety, the two sides agreed to meet at the Lotus House on Henan Island, which is not far from the city and relatively secluded.

Li Xijue and Lu Yizhong reunited in this place. Both were a little embarrassed. At the beginning, they were involved in the secret work in the shogunate, planning how to deal with the Australians, but now they are all dealing with the Australians, opening the door for the Australians to do things, which seems to have a feeling of being created and tricked.

Embarrassing is embarrassing, and serious things still have to be done. During the talks, the two sides formally agreed that Lu Yizhong would be the liaison of the Australians and Li Xijue would be the liaison of the government side, and that all negotiations would be handled by the two of them.

The two sides will temporarily use the Lotus House as a venue for the two sides to meet and talk, and will make changes when there is a new and suitable venue.

The Guangdong government guarantees the personal and property safety of Lu Yizhong and his family.

After the transactional agreement, there is the issue of buying land -- to acquire land for the "Guangzhou Dashijie" project. According to the old time and space statement, it is to approve a piece of land and engage in commercial real estate development.

Even in the Ming Dynasty, such a large-scale purchase of land for commercial development is a sensitive matter, not to mention that it is not just a matter of money outside of Guangzhou. Without the overt and covert support of the local government, it is very difficult to engage in large-scale real estate development.

In addition, although the officials of the Ming Dynasty are greedy, they are not stupid in the end. What kind of medicine is sold by the big shijie outside the city of Guangzhou, they can also figure it out with their feet.

"This matter is not easy to do......" Li Xijue gasped, "Although you are allowed to buy land freely in Guangdong, but in this Guangzhou City, you want to buy so much land, I'm afraid, I'm afraid it's ......" He couldn't think of any specific reason, so he had to say again, "It's difficult." ”