"Fan Lichen, wait a minute!"

In the open space outside the West Gate, just as the lively crowd gradually dispersed, Zhang Cang finally found his subordinate Ling Fan Gui.

Fan Gui is in his forties, his appearance is ordinary, and he has signed an order of five grades, it seems that his official position is not too high, but his identity is not very ordinary, he is the grandson of Fan Ju, the former prime minister of Qin, and he still inherits the marquis of Fan Ju, and he is also considered to be a famous person, and he is very familiar with all the princes and princes, and his contacts are relatively close.

"It turned out that Dean Zhang, Dean Hu and all my colleagues also came to see the prisoner sacrifice ceremony?"

As a group of new powerful figures such as Zhang Cang and Hu Kuan, who followed Chen Xu's rapid rise, Fan Gui did not dare to be careless, and quickly stopped what he was doing to greet him.

"Hey, if it weren't for Brother Fan who almost forgot about it, shouldn't there be a grand ceremony for the army to return to the court to present prisoners, why did it disperse in a hurry?"

As soon as Fan Gui asked this, Zhang Cang and the others felt that the situation was a little strange, not to mention that they couldn't see Di Daohou Li Xin at the moment, and they couldn't even see Feng Quji, Meng Yi and other senior officials from the three provinces and six departments who were arranged by the emperor to greet him, only some middle- and low-level officials of the five or six, seven or eight grades of the various prefectures were arranging the evacuation of soldiers and the placement of prisoners.

"Don't ask Dean Zhang about this matter, and you don't know the joints, but I heard that it is related to enamel equipment, and Your Majesty doesn't like ......it," Fan Gui explained in a low voice.

Zhang Cang, Hu Kuan and the others instantly showed a clear look, and then they no longer cared about this matter, although they all had middle and high lords, but the Academy of Sciences and the College of Engineering were not considered the official government of the imperial court, and they did not have official positions, so they were not very interested in the messy things above the court, as Chen Xu's hardcore followers, they just wanted to complete the various tasks arranged by Chen Xu as soon as possible, and they could not delay the smooth road plan.

"If you are here to watch the sacrifice of prisoners, you can go back to your house now, you will be busy for a few days, so I won't accompany Brother Zhang and Brother Hu to chat with you, and when you are busy with this matter, you will be invited to Quyuan to drink and apologize!" Fan Gui bowed his hands apologetically and prepared to leave.

"Hey, Brother Fan, don't worry, I know that you have to arrange for these prisoners of war to be busy, but I am here for these prisoners!" Zhang Cang grabbed Fan Gui's sleeve.

"Brother Zhang said that he laughed, you are not an official of my household department, can you still help me sort out the book?" Fan Gui smiled and shook his head.

"Hehe, how dare Zhang go beyond the bounds, Brother Fan is still going to do it slowly, today I came with Dean Hu and a group of colleagues, just to get some prisoners to repair the two docks in the east and south of the city, and ask Brother Fan to take care of one or two!" Zhang Cang looked at Fan Gui with a dry smile.

Fan Gui was stunned for a moment and then immediately shook his head like a rattle, "Brother Zhang, don't want to harm me, these are prisoners of war, they have not yet ascended the throne, and their slave status is undecided, how can they take it upon themselves to take you to repair the dock, if you want someone, please submit the recital to the household department, I promise to deploy it immediately when I see the recital, and I will never disappoint Brother Zhang!" ”

"Brother Fan said lightly, if we wait until we submit the recital, I'm afraid that none of these prisoners of war will fall into our hands!" Hu Kuan pouted unhappily beside him.

"Yes, yes, Fan Lichen is best if he can open the net, at present, there is a shortage of manpower at construction sites all over the country, as long as the slavery status of these prisoners of war is confirmed, I am afraid that countless slaves will buy all of them, how can it still fall into the hands of us and others, I am afraid that tomorrow we will write a book, and Brother Fan will not be able to get us manpower!" Several officials from the Ministry of Industry next to him all followed along.

Fan Gui smiled bitterly: "Even if you don't, you can't just give the prisoner of war to you, this is not in line with the law of the imperial court!" ”

"Hey, this is not a crime, we are not rebelling, but we want to repair the two wharves as soon as possible, now the wharf is rebuilt and expanded, hundreds of ships in and out every day are crowded in the temporary wharf, not only the traffic is inconvenient, but also very unsafe, because the wharf is too simple, almost every day you can hear the news of people and goods falling into the water, one day earlier, these merchant ships and cargo ships are not safe. What's more, when the Marquis of Qinghe left Beijing, he repeatedly told him to speed up the reconstruction and expansion of the wharf, speed up the design and commissioning of the regulations of gantry cranes and containers, we did not dare to slack off and delay on such a hot day, and we hurried from the construction site after hearing about it, Brother Fan, don't think too much, we will strictly guard these captives, and never let them escape to make trouble, if something happens, I will bear it, and I will never involve Brother Fan, come, we will talk about it in detail......

Hu Kuan explained that Fan Gui still showed no signs of letting go, so he hugged Fan Gui and walked to a quiet place next to him, and whispered: "Brother Fan is not an outsider, I won't harm you if I wait, I said that eating, drinking and listening to music are just weekdays, if Brother Fan agrees to help, I will help you get a Taiyi God musket and some ammunition in private......"

"Is that true?" Before Hu Kuan finished speaking, Fan Gui immediately had a pair of round eyes, and his face was full of anticipation and excitement.

"Naturally, but when the time comes, Brother Fan should not say that it was sent by me, otherwise I am afraid that I will be punished by the Hou Ye!" Hu Kuan whispered.

"Okay, rest assured, I must be tight-lipped, and I will never involve Brother Hu, so I don't know how many people Brother Hu plans to have?" Fan Gui asked after nodding repeatedly.

"Five thousand!"

"Ga~" Fan Gui's laughter stopped abruptly, and his face was extremely distorted to look at Hu Kuan.

"That...... Isn't it too much? Hu Kuan smiled dryly.

Fan Gui's cheeks twitched and he smiled bitterly and said: "It's not just a lot, Brother Hu also knows that a certain is just a subordinate order of the first and fifth grades, and there are also the orders of the household registration office and the household department, as well as Feng Xiang and others to take care of it, don't say five thousand, two thousand don't dare, this Taiyi God Fire Gun certainly likes it, but you still have to have a life to take it!" ”

"Two thousand is indeed too little...... Hu Kuan tugged at his beard and nodded, "Well, for the time being, I can only use it for a few days, it's better than nothing!" ”

"Brother Hu, it's not that you don't want to help, and the Marquis of Qinghe doesn't dare to shirk it, but these captives do have to go through the registration before they can be bought and sold, for the sake of Brother Hu, who is also working for state affairs, I don't shirk it, but two thousand people are still too much, give Brother Hu a thousand, don't make a noise about this matter!" Fan Gui looked around for a while and then lowered his voice and said.

"A thousand is too little...... I'll send Brother Fan another two catties of ammunition, and you give me 1,500 people, what if? Hu Kuan continued to bargain.

"Good!" Fan Gui gritted his teeth and agreed after hesitating for a long time.

"Thank you, Brother Hu, I invite you to Chunfangyuan for a banquet another day, and let Lin Xian'er accompany you!" Hu Kuan instantly smiled or didn't close his mouth.

"Then it's decided, wait until you're busy for the past few days, and then talk to Brother Hu about wine, and you will follow me to select prisoners of war!" Fan Gui's expression also relaxed instantly, and he summoned a few low-level officials to take Hu Kuan, Zhang Cang and a group of others to select prisoners.

"This is what you speak of as a strong captive?"

Under the leadership of several household officials, they came to the prisoner gathering place, looking at the group of black and thin-clothed refugees in front of them, the male and female prisoners of war, Hu Kuan, Zhang Cang and others were all staring at each other, these people were not only emaciated, but also seemed to have not taken a bath for several years, and they could smell a strong smell of shame from more than ten zhang away, and a group of people couldn't help but cover their mouths and noses and turn their heads to look at the few Ministry of Industry officials who had just reported the news.

"That...... I only heard about your forgiveness in the office of the agency, and we went to spread it before we came to see it, but I really didn't know that this group of prisoners was like this! Several officials were embarrassed.

"It's better than nothing, although it's a little thin, but it's still young, as long as you don't get sick and recuperate for a few days, it won't be too bad, remember not to be too tired to death, go and choose someone!" Zhang Cang shook his head helplessly.

As the saying goes, there are fast hands and slow hands, although the quality of these captives is indeed not very high, but I heard that the Hu people live in the wind, sand and bitter cold land all the year round, and they are more durable than the Central Plains people, as long as they are a little fuller, if they are too picky, I am afraid that these people will soon be divided up by the slave merchants and rich people who have a relationship with the background.

Therefore, under the supervision of a group of household officials, Hu Kuan and others quickly selected 1,500 healthy and strong men and women from among the prisoners of war, and then summoned soldiers to escort them to two wharves in the south and east of the city.

"Dean Zhang, how should we arrange food and accommodation for these people?" On the way back, a Ministry of Industry official asked.

"It's the height of summer now, as long as it doesn't rain you can sleep in the open air, you don't need bedding, but you still have to build a few rows of sheds as soon as possible, the first two days these people don't have to work, first set up the sheds and stoves, the logistics department is responsible for purchasing a batch of pottery bowls and grain, by the way, these people are weak, first go to the food factory to pull a few cars of compressed dry food back to replenish it, but also notify the health center to arrange for doctors to come to check the body, prepare some Ren Dan licorice and other heatstroke prevention and detoxification drugs, so as not to break out of the plague ......"

"Yes, I'll do it later!" A group of officials scattered.

……