King Gong was quite surprised by Wen Xiang's visit, and the guests could feel the faint surprise under the host's tranquil appearance.

"Bochuan," said King Gong in a deliberately relaxed tone, "you haven't been to my door for a few days. ”

"Sixth Master," Wen Xiang smiled bitterly, "I ......"

King Gong cut off his words: "Where are you from?" ”

"Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

"Ah......h

This can't help but let out a soft "ah", with a very complicated feeling - that is the former prime minister's national affairs yamen, where King Gong once spent countless hours and poured countless efforts.

But now-

King Gong's feelings, Wen Xiangqing was clear, and his heart was even more uncomfortable: "Sixth master, I ......"

King Gong cut off his words again, and his tone returned to that deliberate lightness: "Then you must not have eaten dinner yet, so let's eat some at my place!" ”

After a slight pause, "I've already eaten, so I won't accompany you - otherwise you won't be able to eat well." You've eaten, let's see you at the 'little house'! ”

Wen Xiang's eyes flashed, nodded, and said, "Okay, I'll be respectful and obey my fate." ”

King Gong knew in his heart that when Wen Xiang came to visit at this time, it was impossible for him to come over to chat with him.

Prince Gong's "eat a little as you like" is also very rich, with four meats, one vegetable and one soup, and the maidservants are also very attentive. Wen Xiang is really hungry, but his amount of food has never been large, and he has little appetite these days, but he hurriedly picked up most of the bowl of rice, drank a few mouthfuls of soup, and put down his chopsticks.

When Wen Xiang arrived at the "small house", King Gong was already waiting inside.

On the table, there are eight plates of fruit in four wet and four dry, a red wine soaked in an ice bucket, and two tall crystal glasses.

"I guess you're in a hurry," said King Gong, "this dinner may not be good, and if you don't have a lot of food, these fruits can still be cushioned." ”

Wen Xiang was moved in his heart, but his friendship with King Gong did not have to be indifferent in some small things, he just nodded and sat down with each other.

After taking a sip of red wine, the coolness came down from his mouth and spread all over his body, and Wen Xiang shivered slightly.

At this time, a gust of night wind blew from the water into the open windows of the "small house", and the house was suddenly refreshed.

"Sixth Master," Wen Xiang's tone was a little confused, "How do I feel that the current situation seems to be ...... Isn't it real? ”

King Gong smiled and said, "Bochuan, you didn't go to Xiangshan Biyun Temple to live in seclusion, but you are better at fighting than me!" ”

After a pause, he hid his smile and sighed softly: "What is the night?" ”

The four words "tonight and night" were exactly in Chinese Xiang's state of mind at this time, and he was stunned for a moment, opening his mouth slightly, but did not say anything.

King Gong changed the subject: "How do you feel about this wine?" ”

"I'm not a good drinker, but—"

Wen Xiang frowned slightly, "It seems that the red wine that has always been drunk here is slightly different, and it seems that I have drunk it somewhere......"

A sly smile appeared on King Gong's face, "Bochuan, you also said that you don't know how to taste wine!" The red wine you drank with me was French, and this one, American, is different—lo and behold, you drank it in one gulp! ”

Wen Xiang smiled to himself, and then was slightly stunned: Hey, American wine? - Where have I drunk this wine?

"Guess where this wine came from?"

Wen Xiang was stunned, his mind was so keen, he only groaned slightly, and then said, "Could it be ...... Xuan Di? ”

King Gong stroked his palm, "Hit!" This wine was brought back from the United States by Yixuan, and he gave me a few boxes and left it in the cellar for more than two years! ”

Wen Xiang let out a soft "ah" and said, "No wonder I feel like I've drunk somewhere - I really did!" ”

After a slight pause, "That's the first time I've been to Wicker Alley - that's it...... Cai Shouqi's incident. ”

In that year, Cai Shouqi attacked King Gong, King Gong roared in front of the palace and was rude, and the queen mother of the two palaces was angry, chased King Gong out of the military plane, and drove all the messengers back to Fengxiang Hutong, "thinking about it behind closed doors".

Wen Xiang made a comeback for King Gong, and visited Yiyong's loyal Gushan Beizi Mansion at night, and asked Guan Zhuofan to "ask for opportune advice" -- in fact, it was to negotiate and talk about the pound.

Here and now, when it comes to this matter, both the guest and the host feel as if they are separated from the world.

"That time," said Wen Xiang, "is this kind of wine—I didn't tell you about it; But—"

After a pause, he was stunned for a moment before continuing: "That time, what did Xuan Di say, Sixth Master, I told you. ”

King Gong glanced at Wen Xiang strangely, smiled and said, "This is natural. Bochuan, you don't think I'm — uh, I thought you missed something important and didn't tell me, did you? ”

"How so?" Wen Xiang said, "Sixth Master, you misunderstood! I mean—"

After a pause, he sighed, "Unexpected!" ”

"Unexpected?"

"Unexpected! ――Looking at the past and the present, there are so many 'unexpected'! ”

King Gong understood.

Wen Xiang's feelings, he also felt the same way, at that time, who could have imagined today's situation?

King Gong couldn't help but be silent.

"For example, for example," Wen Xiang continued, "the Eight Banners Reform -- I remember, that night, Xuan Di said that he wanted to 'reform the Eight Banners.'" ”

After a pause, "At that time, I felt that this matter, even if it was not a 'fantasy' as foreigners said, it was also possible to do it with the purpose of 'breaking bones' - Xuan Di himself said so." As for whether or not he can achieve success in the end, he really doesn't have the bottom at all, but it's just the six words 'do his best and make peace with his destiny'. ”

After another pause, "What is the result - to this day, not only is no one 'crushed', but up and down, they are applauding, hey, it's really like a trick!" ”

King Gong nodded and said, "I have talked to Pei Yu about this matter......

"Well, I know," Wen Xiang said, "Sixth Master, your theory of 'doing addition and subtraction' is extremely incisive!" ”

"In addition to the 'addition' that should be 'addition', and the 'subtraction' that should be 'subtraction'," Gong Wang said, "Yixuan also has a very clever point - reforming the Eight Banners, he takes the path of 'branch first and then dry', 'easy first and then difficult'." ”

"'Branches before dry'...... 'easy before difficult'?"

"Yes," said King Gong, "this is something I have only recently figured out - he did not take the flagmen of Gyeonggi and the vicinity of Gyeonggi first, he moved first, the flagmen stationed in the provinces. ”

Wen Xiang thought about it seriously and nodded again and again, "Sixth Master, see deeply!" The banner men of Gyeonggi have a bad atmosphere and many oil bastards, but their situation is better than that of the flag men stationed in the provinces--this group of people cannot endure great hardships, and the settling-in allowance of three hundred taels of silver may not be enough to move their hearts; In addition, the banner men of Gyeonggi are much more connected with the clans of Gyeongli than the flag men stationed in the provinces-this bone is too hard! ”

"If you gnaw this bone first, if you can't gnaw it down for a while, the reform of the Eight Banners will not be effective, you will only hear complaints, and if you don't get it right, you will give up halfway!"

"Not bad!" King Gong said, "The situation of the garrison banner people in other provinces is much worse than that of the banner people in Gyeonggi, I remember, in the second or third year of Tongzhi, the Xi'an garrison banner people, after a year, starved to death...... Well, 6,654! Shocking and appalling! ”

After a pause, "The days have passed to this point, and the identity of the banner man is a shackle -- no livelihood, not even begging, waiting to starve to death, isn't it a shackle?" Other than that, it's not worth much! What else is there to be nostalgic for in this identity? Three hundred taels of silver for settling-in expenses, plus land, seeds, farm tools, and cattle from the imperial court -- as long as a person with a normal brain knows where to go! ”

After another pause, "Also, there are not many oil bastards in the local garrison bannermen, and they are more hard-working than the Gyeonggi banner people." ”

Wen Xiang nodded and said, "Exactly!" Hangzhou fell, Li Xiucheng repeatedly surrendered to the city, Hangzhou garrison banner people, general Ruichang below, swore not to surrender, every family prepared gunpowder, the day the city was broken, everywhere raised fire, the city went to the disaster - such a magnificent situation, the flag people of Gyeonggi, unimaginable! ”

After a slight pause, "Death is not enough, but what is the hardship?" Moreover, he took three hundred taels of silver and free land, seeds, farm tools, and cattle to 'endure hardships'? ”

"Exactly," said King Gong, "the place where Yixuan is brilliant is here." His 'addition and subtraction', how can he not do it in the local garrison of the poor bannermen? Now, the local garrison flag people, I don't know how many are looking forward to it, this 'buyout flag age', when will it be their turn? ”

"Yes," Wen Xiang said, "when the time comes—in the end, when it is the turn of the Gyeonggi Banner people, if there are people who are unwilling, they don't leave, and they go backwards, and there will be no one to speak for them, and even if they do, if they say it, they won't have any confidence -- why can't you do what the local garrison flag people do?" ”

"Reform the Eight Banners," King Gong said, "This dynasty has actually done it more than once, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Jiaqing have all moved, but every time, it ends without a problem!" It also includes Su Shun - he only 'does subtraction', not 'addition', and the following naturally can't stand it - and does not talk about him. ”

After a slight pause, "Why can't this matter be done before?" In addition to 'addition and subtraction', there are two main reasons, first, the life is not hard to that extent, and when there is no way out, who is willing to move from the world of flowers to the desolate Guanwai? Second, they just blindly moved people from the capital to the outside of the mouth and along the border, instead of starting with the local garrison flag people like Yixuan, 'first branch and then dry', 'easy first and then difficult' -- it was really a wrong path, taking a path of 'doing it first and then branching' and 'first difficult and then easy'! ”

Wen Xiang nodded and said, "That's true!" In the Kangxi Dynasty, there was a plan to transfer the bannermen who had no job and no property in Beijing to be stationed along the border outside the mouth one after another, but unfortunately there were few responders; After that, Yongzheng and Qianlong—"

After a pause, "Well, the situation of the Qianlong Dynasty is the most telling!" Emperor Gaozongchun moved 3,000 households in Jingqi to Lalin Tun in Heilongjiang for reclamation, and it took a lot of effort to actually move to less than 2,000 households. In the following four years, most of these banner men fled back to Beijing; Soon, the imperial court moved to the Beijing Banner to the twin castles to reclaim, and within a few years, the mistakes of Lalin were repeated. ”

Speaking of this, he smiled slightly wryly, "It's the tun of the local banner people in the northeast, which is more vocal—but what's the use of that?" ”

"Throughout the ages," said King Gong, "where there is a reform, it is always the most difficult at the beginning, this point, the persimmon should pick the softest pinch, but as soon as it comes up, it picks up the hardest bones to gnaw, and if it can't be gnawed, then the whole reform, how can it continue?" ”

After a pause, he sighed, "After I retreated to the domain, I had more free time, and I read a few books, and then I realized that our China, all dynasties, and how many reforms have been ruined here!" ”

Wen Xiang's heart shook slightly.

"Whoever initiates and presides over reform," King Gong continued, "seeing that the country is full of evils, who is not eager to move this mountain overnight?" Thinking only about 'whether it should be done' and 'whether it can be done', the result is that like a steamboat, it can only sail for an hour and 50 miles, and he has to drive for an hour and a hundred miles, and as a result, before he reaches the middle of the stream, he makes a commotion, scatters the shelves, breaks down and sinks in the sand, and the ship is destroyed and people die!

Wen Xiang looked at King Gong in surprise, and a thought suddenly popped up in his mind: In just a few months, the King Gong in front of him was a little different from the King Gong he was familiar with-how good it would have been if he had been like this a few years earlier!

As if he had guessed his thoughts, King Gong said, "It's like the Wenguan - at the beginning of its opening, why did I ask the scholars to go in and study? Jin Shi and the first - hey, hey! ”

After a pause, "They should have been the last to go in, and even, they didn't go in to study, so what's the matter?" The result—"

Shaking his head slightly, "Alas! ”

Wen Xiang was silent.

"This layer," said King Gong, "to tell you the truth, I am indeed inferior to Yixuan!" His Cantonese dialect hall, at the beginning, only dealt with fellow practitioners, made a lot of money in a muffled voice, and became big without saying anything! ”

Wen Xiang did not directly answer King Gong's words, and said: "Reform is also a matter of 'time and situation' - take the reform of the Eight Banners as an example, Sixth Master, you just said it very well, in the past, 'the days were not hard to that extent', I think, if the Xuan Mansion is located in the time of Kang, Yong, and Qian, he may not be able to do the reform of the Eight Banners." ”

King Gong smiled slightly and said, "Maybe, but he may not be able to do it." ”

Wen Xiang shook his head slightly, and said: "The Eight Banners are the foundation of the country, 'branches first and then dry', 'easy first and then difficult', put it today, it will work, put it in Kang, Yong, Qian, it may not work-"

King Gong pondered for a while, and couldn't help but be slightly moved: "Bochuan, you have seen it deeply!" The banner people of Kang, Yong, and Qian are not as useless as they are today, and they can really be called 'Guoben'! If the flag men stationed in various places are moved back to the northeast, then—"

So, who will "garrison"? That is, who will ...... What about looking at the Han Chinese?

Now it's different -- the flag camp is basically useless, and the difference between Manchu and Han is much more indifferent than at the beginning of the country, so the meaning of "garrisoning" actually no longer exists, so there is nothing to regret!

King Gong's words were not said in full, but there was no need to say them all, and in the "small house", there was silence for a while.

*(To be continued.) )