Dawei Township, Huaxian County, Guangdong, this is Hong Xiuquan's hometown, but at this time it was the temporary residence of Huang Zonghan, the minister of the Qin Mission. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

In the house of a squire, a senior official dressed in the governor's mansion sat in a dignified manner, and the two county officials from Dongguan and Xin'an in front of him were reporting the situation to him.

"Since the law of self-closure of the port, no trade has been allowed, and anyone who dares to trade privately will be punished. Those who serve the so-called shamen for the Yi people, and those who row boats on behalf of the steamers, are allowed to return home for 10 days and are not allowed to stay. Violators, seized and punished, and convicted and relatives, three generations are not allowed to take the exam. ”

"In my two counties of Dongguan and Xin'an, Moya, Shamen, sailors, etc., the people who spread the notice are quite afraid, and the number of people who have fled from Hong Kong is almost seven or eight out of ten. Even inside and outside the provincial capital, the merchants and people have also migrated away, and there is no trace of Xiguan during the day. ”

The so-called law of sealing the port was actually that Huang Zonghan, in the name of the minister of the Imperial Mission and the governor of Liangguang, posted notices to scare the common people into not allowing them to do business with foreigners, and to cut off the trade and material supply of foreigners.

Of course, the effect is there, honest and obedient businessmen are willing to settle things, close their businesses and flee to the countryside to avoid trouble. However, serious businessmen no longer do business with foreigners, and those who smuggle "get heavy profits from those who trade privately". In Hong Kong, the sand gates, sailors and others who worked for foreigners did flee back, but they definitely did not flee back as reported by the county officials, and only a small number of people chose to go home under the high salaries and profits of foreigners.

Huang Zonghan knows very well in his heart that the things in the officialdom are superficial, and ten things can only be listened to as three points. However, he was convinced that his method of sealing Hong Kong, using felonies and banning the imperial examinations, would indeed have a deterrent effect on some families who were bent on glorifying the lintel through the imperial examinations. There is already a shortage of supplies for foreigners in Hong Kong and other places, and prices have nearly doubled.

After sending two county officials from the local county, it was almost noon, and the fine work sent out also returned.

"My lord, the Yiren have closed all the gates except for the two gates of Yongqing and Yongxing. The patrols of foreign soldiers outside the city are very tight, and those who enter and leave the city gate, and those who are slightly suspicious, will be driven away with braids. Those who stay for no reason will be beaten and scolded at the least, and detained at the worst! ”

After listening to the situation in Guangzhou City reported by the spies, Huang Zonghan nodded with satisfaction.

"It seems that Lin Fuxiang and they have succeeded!"

Huang Zonghan thought in his heart, but he was a little worried, this time Lin Fuxiang's actions made him extremely uneasy.

He still learned from Bai Gui that Lin Fuxiang had kidnapped Pa Xia Li, and he was worried that Lin Fuxiang was not dizzy for meritorious service, but was ordered by Bai Gui at all. Bai Gui has been an official in Guangdong for many years, successively serving as the magistrate of Puning, Longmen, Dongguan and other counties, and the governor of Nanxiong Zhili Prefecture, which is deeply rooted in Guangdong. Lin Fuxiang was originally from Guangdong, and he has been training for nearly 20 years, so it is not surprising that the two know each other, but if Lin Fuxiang and Bai Gui collude behind their backs, it will be really difficult to do.

Why Huang Zonghan has this kind of worry, it is not because of those cats in the officialdom, Bai Gui has already stinked, although he has written to himself every once in a while during this time, there is no lack of some fleshy flattery, but Huang Zonghan can see it clearly, after this battle, no matter who wins and who loses, as long as Guangdong is still the world of the Qing Dynasty, Bai Gui will be finished.

For such a colleague, Huang Zonghan didn't want to have anything to do with him, he had always just responded to things, and he didn't want to involve himself when Bai Gui was unlucky in the future.

But now it seems that there are some variables, if Lin Fuxiang has always been Baigui's person, then he underestimated this governor, since Lin Fuxiang is his person, what about Hua Tingjie, the magistrate of Nanhai County, and Li Futai, the magistrate of Panyu County? Huang Zonghan knew that before these two county orders went out of the city to train their troops, they had secretly discussed it with Bai Gui.

And what is the attitude of the three squires who trained the soldiers?

These people have been encouraging him to attack the city, especially the three squires, who were originally officials of the imperial court, and were dismissed from their posts for some reason.

These people can't figure out the emperor's mind at all, no wonder they were dismissed. At this time, the emperor was not only worried about foreigners, but also worried about those people who were enthusiastic about the people. has issued an edict that "you can only deter you from making a false voice first, and then plan a way", but these people just don't understand, do they really don't understand, or do they have another hidden story, or are they running for Baigui?

Huang Zonghan, as a minister of the Imperial Mission, understood the emperor's mind very well, and was both happy and worried about the enthusiasm of the people of Guangdong to resist the foreigners, and issued a clear order that "the gentlemen's group training will not be held unless it is ordered by a lawsuit, and the new governor will come to Guangdong to preside over it", and sent him, the minister of the Imperial Mission, to rush over early, not to let him hold the group exercise, but to preside over it.

The emperor was also afraid that the regimental training would become a popular uprising.

Therefore, Huang Zonghan has always supported and controlled the regimental training outside the city, and the so-called support is only to give them an official name, but does not allocate any official money, unlike the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan, the governors of each province will use official money to give assistance. At this time, these squires and magistrates in Guangdong completely relied on their local influence to raise salaries.

For example, the former Taichang Temple Shaoqing Long Yuanxu himself is a Shunde wang clan, at the beginning of the group training, he himself took out 10,000 taels, and raised 100,000 taels from the hands of the Shunde squire, and in just a few months pulled up an army of 10,000 people, this kind of appeal not only makes people feel that their hearts can be used, but also makes people have to guard against it, and have to be afraid of the deep-rooted local forces in Guangdong.

The local forces are already strong, if there is a Bai Gui behind him, the power formed makes Huang Zonghan quite uneasy, if these Guangdong places are twisted into a rope in their hands, how can he, the minister of the Qincha and the governor of Liangguang, deal with himself?

It's just that this time Lin Fuxiang did too brilliantly, so that he couldn't suppress it if he wanted to, not to mention the capture of the British chief Pashali, it seems that their ambush also won a big victory, although I don't know whether it is a big victory or a small victory, but this credit is indelible, if Bai Gui grabs this credit, I don't guarantee that Bai Gui can escape from it.

It is not enough to say that Huang Zonghan is a Qing official like Hai Rui, but he thinks that he can be regarded as a direct minister, and he is not afraid of the powerful in the imperial history, and is known for impeaching Gui Liang, the governor of Yungui. Later, he also worked as a grain governor in Guangdong, and at that time he couldn't get used to the collusion in Guangdong officialdom.

Guangdong is the only port, the personnel is extremely complicated, and the sky is high and the emperor is far away, long before Lin Zexu banned smoking, he criticized the ministers and maladministration of the province all over again.

Huang Zonghan, who has become an official in the feudal territory, no longer has the spirit and power of his youth, but he has a little more city government, although he is afraid of the collusion of local forces in Guangdong, but he will not clash head-on.

He felt that if the local forces in Guangdong were to prevent Bai Gui from forming an exclusive force led by Bai Gui, then Bai Gui should not be allowed to get half of the credit, and Huang Zonghan planned to give all the credit to Lin Fuxiang this time.