The 370-ton steamer "William Martte" slowly sailed away from the wharf of Hankou Port with a long whistle, followed by its sister ship, the 440-ton "Margaret". On the bow and mast of both ships, the American Star-Spangled Banner was flown high.

Guan Zhuofan, the new magistrate of Shanghai, took a rattan chair made in Guangdong from the cabin, placed it on the deck at the bow of the ship, lifted the front hem of his robe, sat down upright, and stared ahead. This is the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Han River, the river suddenly becomes wide, giving people the illusion of immensity, and the autumn sunset, reflected on the slowly flowing river, sparkling gold. Smoke rises from the small boats moored on the shore, which is a dinner that can be enjoyed peacefully after a hard day's work on the water.

This tranquil scenery made Guan Zhuofan feel warm and quiet, he sighed softly, thinking to himself, it turned out that the water of the Yangtze River in this era was still clear.

The American flag hanging from the bow of the ship, hunting in the autumn wind, caught his attention. The red and white Stars and Stripes are so familiar that you can see at a glance the difference from the "future" - compared to the fifty stars in the future, there are only thirty-four stars on this flag.

An inexplicable smile appeared on Guan Zhuofan's face - even if there are only these thirty-four stars, I'm afraid he is having a lot of fun now, right? According to the calculation of time, the American Civil War should have been going on for half a year, and the invisible rift on the invincible Star-Spangled Banner is expanding.

"Boss," Daniel Zhang tiptoed to his side and said with a smile, "Looking at the scenery?" ”

"Ah, Zhang Dusi." Guan Zhuofan raised his head to look at him, smiled and said, "Why didn't you look at the brothers and come to me?" ”

The words and salutations are very polite, but the meaning of the words has a hint of reproach. Daniel Zhang was a little embarrassed and embarrassed. It was embarrassing to see each other's identities, and embarrassed that he seemed to be suspected of leaving the guard without permission - according to the rules before boarding, the soldiers were not allowed to leave Hankou for twenty miles, and the soldiers were not allowed to leave the cabin, so he should take care of his men in the cabin.

"It's boring to watch them throw up in there." Daniel Zhang said with a hippie smile, "Boss, I'll accompany you to see the scenery." ”

"Didn't you say it earlier, stop calling the boss? You are now the capital of the fourth grade, and I am just a magistrate of the seventh grade, which makes people laugh when they hear it. ”

"Yes!" Daniel Zhang made a solemn look, snapped upright, and then dispersed his military posture, pointed to the golden waves on the river in front of him, and said very seriously: "Boss, this scenery is really good, it must be a great luck - you see that the left side is also gold, and the right side is also gold, isn't this doomed us to make a fortune?" ”

"You're here to spoil me." Guan Zhuofan saw that he was still a boss, and shook his head helplessly, "What is the artistic conception of the good one, what has been ruined by you." ”

What is artistic conception? Daniel Zhang was stunned and couldn't answer.

Guan Zhuofan smiled to himself, and said in his heart that I was talking about this rough man, didn't I play the piano to the cow? So he asked the question, "How many of the brothers have vomited?" ”

"I turned around in all cabins, and there were only about twenty of them, and some of the boats vomited before they started, purely because they were scared." Daniel Zhang had a disdainful look on his face, pouting and saying, "It's all useless things, Lao Ding looks at them." ”

"!" After Guan Zhuofan finished speaking, he realized that his tone was wrong, slowed down his tone, and said to Daniel Zhang: "These six hundred people, most of them are soldiers from the north, they have never seen much water, the first time they take a boat, it is common to faint, you should enlighten them more." ”

"Then why am I okay?" Daniel Zhang said unconvinced, spread his legs, and pinched his waist to stand, "Boss, how stable do you see me standing?" Whatever you say about the wind and waves on the water, it is all frightening. ”

"Scare?" This time it was Guan Zhuofan's turn to smile disdainfully, "When you take the sea boat, I'll see you talk again." ”

"I originally said that I would go to Dagu to take a sea boat," Daniel Zhang muttered, "If it weren't for Henan Governor Li Henian not saying that there was a banditry, we wouldn't have gone around this big circle." ”

"It's just a military training, and I don't think I'll suffer." Guan Zhuofan said with a smile, "The sea boat is very boring, it is not as stable as the river boat, and there is a beautiful scenery to see." ”

"Boss, have you ever been on a boat?" Daniel Zhang asked incredulously.

"This ...... That's what the book says. Guan Zhuofan knew that he had slipped his mouth and made a round.

"Oh," Daniel Zhang said relievedly, and asked again, "How long will it take for us to get to Shanghai?" ”

"It's very fast," Guan Zhuofan waved his hand and said with a smile, "The apes on both sides of the strait can't stop crying, and the fireworks will go down to Yangzhou in October." ”

*

*

Transferring to Shanghai is something Guan Zhuofan has been planning for a long time, he spent a lot of effort a year ago to put Libin in Shanghai, and what he is waiting for is today.

The gift to King Gong frightened King Gong. When King Gong said to the queen mother of the two palaces, he frightened the two palaces again.

It is also said that a second-grade general soldier wants to be a seven-grade magistrate, since the founding of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there has never been such a strange news, and no one will believe it if you tell it.

However, after King Gong explained Guan Zhuofan's reasons to the two palaces, the two queen mothers thought about it carefully, and the more they thought about it, the more reasonable it became, this Shanghai magistrate seemed to be supposed to do it.

First, Li Xiucheng's new attack on Hangzhou, the army is blazing, and the rumors of turning back to peep into Shanghai are very loud, and around Shanghai, there is basically no army that can fight - after Zeng Guofan's Hunan army broke through Anqing, it is planning to besiege Jinling, and Li Hongzhang's newly recruited troops in Anqing have not yet become an army, so it is not an exaggeration to say that "there are no soldiers in Shanghai". The officials and gentry of Shanghai, big and small, hoped that the imperial court would rescue the troops, and even the consular corps in the concession sent notes more than once, hoping that the imperial court would send troops as soon as possible to strengthen Shanghai's defense. At this time, Guan Zhuofan is willing to transfer his horse team to Beijing to help, which is a good thing to boost morale.

Second, Shanghai cannot be lost, not only because of the war over the years, there are too many wealthy families who have avoided trouble, and it has become the most prosperous place in the southeast, but also because the tariffs of Shanghai Customs, which account for 60% of the total tariffs in the country, are the lifeblood of the imperial court. However, the situation in Shanghai is completely controlled by foreigners and local officials, and if there is a reliable "own person" involved, it will naturally be a great good thing for the imperial court.

Third, it does not mean that you can get mixed in - to be an official in Shanghai, the most important thing is to have the ability to deal with foreigners. Guan Zhuofan can not only fight, is "his own person", but also can speak fluent foreign language, in Beijing every day in the prime minister's affairs yamen, which shows that he is very interested in foreign affairs, and has become good friends with Hurd, so it seems that when he goes to Shanghai to be an official, besides him, who else can have such a ability?

However, if you are an official, you have to be an official, why do you have to be a seven-grade magistrate? Guan Zhuofan also said his truth in the post: "Shanghai is a place where Chinese and foreign are mixed, and the situation inside is not known to outsiders. Suddenly gained a high position, there was no way to be surprised, and among colleagues, it was easy to have dislikes, and it was not beautiful in major events. ”

This truth is very practical and thorough.

The situation in Shanghai is very peculiar, above Shanghai County is Songjiang Mansion, above Songjiang Mansion, it should be the feudal division and governor of Jiangsu, but now there is a four-grade Shanghai Daotai in the middle. The affairs of Shanghai, Songjiang Mansion does not care, most of them have to be decided by Shanghai Daotai, so if you are to be the prefect of Songjiang who is a five-grade official, it seems that the official is a few levels older on the surface, but it is actually very boring. The jurisdiction of Shanghai Daotai involves both military, civil and customs affairs, and shoulders the responsibility of dealing with the consular corps, and the diplomatic burden is extremely heavy.

After considering it all in this way, Guan Zhuofan's post turned out to be leakless and impeccable. And the civil official who was willing to succumb from the second-grade military post to the seventh-grade civil official, there was another sentence in the post, "Zhuo Fan was deeply gracious, and he did not dare to think of his name", which made the Queen Mother and the Minister of Military Aircraft feel that he Guan Zhuofan's loyalty to the country was simply loyal to the point of outrageousness, so he not only granted the invitation, transferred troops and people, but also awarded a special reward, showing the difference in his identity - "Give the yellow coat and still allow the inner court to walk".

As a seven-pin county and as a royal guard, he can walk around in the big interior, and in history, except for Guan Zhuofan, he no longer thinks about being a second person.