"Master, where do I dare," Zhang Shun was startled, and hurriedly distinguished, "This Master Qi said that he was ordered by Lord Xu in the capital to come to see Lord Futai." I guess he came with a letter from Master Xu in eight lines, otherwise he wouldn't have dared to come to see you with a shy face. ”

Guan Zhuofan and Zhao Jingxian glanced at each other, and there was a wry smile on their faces-just when it came to clean government, the official seeker came.

"Which Lord Xu?"

"Lord Xu Tong Xu in the study."

Hearing Zhang Shun say this, Zhao Jingxian smiled slightly: "Sir, I'll leave first, and if you have any instructions when you go back, I'll do it." I guess there is about another person in the weaving yamen in Suzhou. ”

The two smiled heartily, Guan Zhuofan sent Zhao Jingxian to the second gate, and Zhang Shun accompanied him out, returned to the signing room, picked up the handbook, and weighed it in his heart.

Zhao Jingxian's words just now do have deep meaning, because Suzhou weaving yamen has now become a place specially used by Guan Zhuofan to place special officials.

The change of local officials often leads to a change in personnel, so there are many people who rely on their connections to go to the door, and there are always some people who have to deal with it. The people they recommended were almost all sent here without exception, both leisurely and well-paid, in Guan Zhuofan's private words, "I'd rather raise it with official money than call it out to harm others."

The weaving yamen was set up during the Shunzhi period, a total of three, respectively located in Suzhou, Jiangning, Hangzhou, in the Kangxi period to develop to the peak, is the famous "Jiangnan three weaving". The so-called pinnacle does not refer to the skills, but to the three people who manage the weaving yamen. In fact, it is the eyes and ears of the imperial court in Jiangnan. Among them, like Cao Yin, Li Xu and others. He is also a close confidant of Kangxi, and dozens of times a year secretly reports on public opinion in Jiangnan, grain prices, and official trends, and has become an important minister of the local power-leaning side.

By now, the authority of weaving has long been gone, and the weaving yamen has become a relatively simple center of the silk weaving industry. In particular, Jiangning has been destroyed, and Hangzhou has not yet been recovered. Therefore, the function of "Jiangnan three weaving" had to be undertaken by the Suzhou weaving yamen.

In fact, there is only one task to undertake, and that is to meet the "Beijing offering".

The products of the weaving yamen are not sold to the people, but all of them are sent to the capital. Among them, the use of the emperor and concubines in the palace is called "Shangyong", and the use of officials in the capital is called "official use", so the funds for weaving the yamen. It is also half borne by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, and 180,000 taels of silver are allocated every year.

At present, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have no money to allocate it. However, it is designated that Jiangsu Province should share the treasury of Beijing as an advance, so it is also equivalent to allocation.

Any yamen who runs this kind of imperial errand, there must be a lot of oil and water, how can Guan Zhuofan let go of such a good thing? It is the best place to use it to let go of friendship and sell face -- the central government allocates funds, and it does not cost money, so why not do it? It is used to settle those relationship households who are useless and full of food all day long, which can not only let them get a rich "food silver", but also prevent them from causing trouble to the place, and they are both happy.

However, among the weaving yamen, the situation is also different.

The so-called weaving yamen is actually divided into two parts, one is the yamen, which is full of officials of various names, who are superficial and bloated; The second is the weaving bureau, that is, the weaving factory, which is really to do things.

In the weaving bureau, Guan Zhuofan refused to install people indiscriminately, because he had another plan.

Jiangnan three weaving, the craftsmanship is different. Jiangning weaving is to win by makeup weaving; Suzhou weaving is good at silk; And Hangzhou weaving, is good at embroidery.

Now the three elements are one, Jiangning and Hangzhou, and the original craftsmen are flowing to Suzhou, which is equivalent to turning the Suzhou Weaving Bureau into the only center. Although Guan Zhuofan does not understand this industry, he also thinks that Suzhou should be turned into two bases of China's silk weaving industry - R&D base and production base.

In fact, these tributes are not much needed in Beijing, and he thought to himself, how good is it to use them to "export to earn foreign exchange"?

It's just that this layer of planning, of course, is still a secret now. He looked at the name on the notebook again, Qi Bingrong, the alternate acquaintance of Taicang Mansion. He knew in his heart that such an official, when the Taiping army occupied Taicang, he didn't know where to hide, and when the official army recovered the lost territory, he didn't know what way to go, and he didn't know if he spent money, so he asked for a letter from Xu Tong and asked for a messenger for himself.

He sighed, seeing that he was about to see it, but he wondered in his heart: Xu Tong is certainly a strange person, but with the respect of the emperor, how could he be willing to do such a thing?

*

*

If the local alternate officials are not good at camping, not to mention making up for the real shortcomings, they are even occasional messengers, and they often do not go through the wheel of years. And if there is a relationship between Beijing and China, and you want a solid letter of recommendation from a certain elder, then the local governor often has to buy this face.

As for whether Xu Tong's face should be bought, for Guan Zhuofan, it is between the two, because it is doubtful whether Xu Tong can be called the word "elder". Of course, he entered the upper study and sent to walk in the Hongde Palace, so he can be regarded as an emperor, but his qualifications are still shallow, and he only knows that he is next to the "chief master of the upper study" Wu Ren all day long, and he considers himself a disciple of Wu Ren, and he is also the same wooden and old-fashioned as Wu Ren, but his knowledge is worse than that of Wu Ren, and he takes the things in a volume of "Taishang Induction Chapter" to bluff people, and no one really looks up to him.

Speaking of foreign affairs, it made Guan Zhuofan angry and funny. Xu Tong naturally sided with the Japanese and opposed foreign affairs, but the reasons he used were often strange - for example, he resolutely refused to recognize that there were two countries, Spain and Portugal.

"The king of parliament called the foreign devil to deceive!" He often said to others bitterly, "Spain has teeth, grapes have teeth, teeth make nations, who has heard of it?" It's all made up by the British devils, so that they seem to be outnumbered! ”

Such a person, why bother to buy his face? However, following the historical context, thinking about it later, I remembered Xu Tong's fate, so I felt that although this person was stubborn and useless, there was still one merit, that is, there was still three points of backbone.

That was the time of the Gengzi Rebellion later. Xu Tong is such a stubborn person, I don't know if it is because he has read too much of the induction chapter, but he is convinced of the "invulnerable" tricks of the Boxer brothers and supports them wholeheartedly. When the Eight-Nation Alliance entered the city, he didn't have time to run away, and when he saw the flags falling all over the city, he thought it was a great shame.

This time, I don't want to live. first ordered the old servant to tie two rope sleeves on the main beam of the hall, and then called his son Xu Chengyu, saying that as a minister, the country is in trouble, and I should be martyred!

Xu Chengyu knew at a glance that it was not good - martyrdom is martyrdom, but above the girder, weishenme are two rope sleeves? He is the left attendant of the criminal department, looking at the rope sleeve on the beam, he naturally understood his father's words, so he generously said: Father, rest assured, this is a major event in your life, and your son will accompany you on the road!

When he stepped on the domino stool, Xu Tong put his white head into the rope sleeve, but his eyes were still looking to the right, looking forward to the death of his father and son at the same time. Xu Chengyu had no choice but to say again: I will serve you on the road first, and then I will accompany you to the spring! said that he was not slacking off, and pulled the stool on his feet, which made Xu Tong's "big festival". He himself immediately took off his second-grade official uniform, changed into a short outfit, and went out to run.

However, he couldn't run far, and in the end he fell into the hands of the Japanese soldiers and was charged. As soon as the "Xinchou Treaty" was signed, the first thing the imperial court did was to get Xu Chengyu back from the coalition forces, tie him to the vegetable market and kill him with a knife.

With such an unscrupulous son as a foil, it becomes more and more pitiful to Xu Tong. Guan Zhuofan thought to himself, now that I am here, naturally no more Eight-Nation Alliance troops will be allowed to enter the city, and in the future, you Xu Tongxu's old life can naturally be saved, even your current letter of eight lines, I will sell it to you to save face!

After thinking about it, let Zhang Shun call that Qi Bingrong in, but when he saw it, he didn't like it at first - he was short and fat, described as obscene, with a mole on the left side of his face, and a few black hairs on it, how unpleasant to look at.

"Greetings to Lord Futai!" Qi Bingrong followed the rules and performed a full set of salutes, then stood up and respectfully put an envelope on it with both hands.

"This is a letter from my teacher to Futai, sent from Beijing, and I am specially ordered to hand it over to Futai in person."

Guan Zhuofan Daqi, the word "teacher", where to start?

"Aren't you the official who donated classes?"

"Subordinate......" Qi Bingrong blushed and snorted, "The subordinate is a fluke in the autumn of the third year of Xianfeng, and the spring of the fourth year of Xianfeng, and he is ranked 66th in the second class." ”

Guan Zhuofan was taken aback, he didn't expect this Qi Bingrong to be a jinshi.

*(To be continued......)