"It may be because of Yan Shenggong's statement that he openly surrendered to the Cantonese thieves, which caused the dissatisfaction of the Manqi nobles. According to the rumors of passers-by, last month, the Yansheng Mansion was attacked by thousands www.biquge.info of thieves and local thieves overnight, and the holy land of thousands of years was rampant by illiterate bandits. Someone saw that among the gang of thieves, a small half of them were flag people, and the leader was the chief soldier of Yanzhou Town and the yellow flag man Yonggui. Han Chao said in a low voice.

Zhang Qiang was shocked and said hurriedly: "Is this really the case? Could it be that Yan Sheng Gong really submitted to the Yue thief, well, the Chinese Empire, and some of the full-time nobles of the Qing Dynasty must have been annoyed and angry, and in order to stop it, they attacked Yan Sheng Gong? ”

As a Confucian disciple who was familiar with the scriptures, he had great respect for Yan Shenggong. As a Hanchen, he served as an official in this remote place for nearly 30 years in the Qing Dynasty court, where the Manqi people were in power, and he was conscientious because he wanted to uphold the Confucian idea of "self-cultivation and family".

"What is the truth, but the little brother is not clear!" Han Chao sighed angrily: "No matter who it is, he actually sent troops to kill the Yan Shenggong family, and also preempted the scriptures left by the saint!" It's so hateful! However, fortunately, when those men and horses in the south sent troops on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, they happened to encounter those twist thieves and local thieves who robbed the Yan Sheng Gong Mansion, and the two sides fought fiercely, and the southern army defeated the twist thieves, took back the scriptures and books stolen from the temple, and saved several side descendants of the saints. It is equivalent to saving the face of the saint and future generations, which is a great good! Unexpectedly, the thief army, which was originally called the Cantonese thief, not only did not exclude Confucianism, but also respected the saint, which is a great thing! ”

Zhang Qi's face changed greatly, and he said with a complicated expression: "Brother Nanxi is here for this matter?" He already understood Han Chaolai's intentions.

Han Chao has a straightforward personality and blood, although he is a scholar and adheres to the idea of loyalty to the monarch, but as a friend who has been friends for many years, Zhang Qiang knows that he, like many Han officials who are now scholars, has always been very dissatisfied with the literary prison in the early Manchu Dynasty, thinking that Confucianism is the essence of the Han people, but it is used by the Manchu nobles. However, due to the Manchu and Han family policies proposed by Emperor Kangxi at the beginning, they, the Han scholars, had steps to go down, and they were attracted by their official positions, so they joined the Qing court.

It's just that now, even the capital of the Qing Dynasty has been occupied, and the emperor has also died, and it has fallen apart and become a climate. In addition to what I just said, even officials from Zhili, Henan and other places have defected to the new dynasty, and at this time, this friend of mine continued to talk about the affairs of the Yansheng Mansion, and his intention is obviously known.

It's just that I want to test myself and treat the new dynasty. It seems that he wants to return to the new dynasty!

At the moment, Zhang Qiang has already figured out the cause and effect.

"Not bad! Brother Youfu, in today's world, the new emperor has already occupied half of it, looking at this situation, it will not be long before he will unify China and become a new generation of masters! Originally, we, the children of the saints, thought that he was born as a long-haired thief, and he must have believed in and preached the religion of God like that Hongyi, and adopted the most extreme anti-Confucian and anti-Confucian policies, forbidding the reading of the Four Books and the Five Classics, burning all the scriptures and historical articles, and massacring scholars. Unexpectedly, this original Holy King, the current Emperor of the Chinese Empire, is completely different from the flood thief! ”

"Since he was separated from the long-haired thieves, along the way, he has never destroyed or burned the Confucian temple and the academy, and has built many schools similar to the academy, and has never burned the Confucian scriptures, let alone killed us and other scholars for no reason. On the contrary, in the past two years, judging from the subordinates he recruited, Zuo Zongtang, Liu Changyou, Peng Yulin, Wu Chongyao, Xu Xiangguang and other powerful subordinates in the early stage were all scholars who defected to the past in the Qing Dynasty, and later, more and more Han officials and scholars in the imperial court joined him.

Even Wu Zhenqi, the governor of Yunnan, Wu Qitai, the envoy of Jiangsu, Deng Erheng, the prefect of Yunnan, and Pinghan, the prefect of Suzhou, also surrendered one after another. So far, they have all been reused, and they have not been held accountable after the fact. ”

Han Chao said excitedly: "Brother Youfu, the younger brother has the courage to reveal that the younger brother is ready to lead Dushan Prefecture to submit to the Chinese Empire, I don't know what the elder brother thinks?" ”

Zhang Qiang's face was cloudy, Han Chao, who had been a friend for many years, said that it would be impossible for him not to express his position!

He also admitted that, just like Han Chao said, this Cantonese thief is completely different from the original long-haired thief, not only snaring scholars everywhere, but also setting up his own school and building a academy, although not all of them only learn four books and five classics, but they are still mainly based on scriptures. The key is to truly value and respect the reader.

In fact, these are not the main things, what is more important is that Zhang Qiang feels that the people under their rule were originally chaotic people who were in trouble everywhere, but after they were brought under their rule, they all honestly farmed with peace of mind.

In this way, this former Cantonese thief, and now the Chinese Empire, is really worth taking refuge into.

However, Zhang Qiang turned his eyes to look at his proud son Zhang Zhidong, and thought that there were many nephews Zhang Zhiqing, Zhang Zhiyuan, Zhang Zhijing, Zhang Zhicheng and others, and even his nephew Zhang Zhiwan, who was a daily official in Beijing, and he couldn't help but consider the safety of these people.

Although Jiang Weiyuan, the governor of Guizhou, was not bad to himself, he was after all a man with a blue flag in the Manchu Han army, and once he showed that he had betrayed the imperial court and surrendered to the Chinese Empire, he might be arrested and harmed by him.

Therefore, Zhang Qiang did not dare to rashly express his attitude and agree.

But let him say that he is not willing to submit to the Empire, and he can't do it.

After all, first, his Nanpi hometown heard that it had been occupied by them, and if he angered them, he would not even be able to return to his ancestral home. The two, as Han Chao said just now, the newly enthroned emperor attaches importance to Confucianism, reuses scholars, and is a Han Chinese, in this case, why do you have to hang yourself on the overturned tree of the Manchu Qing Dynasty? No matter from which aspect, they have to consider the future of these many sons and nephews, they study hard, and they always have to sell to the emperor's family, since the new emperor is now the general trend of unifying China, and his people are the scene of a generation of masters, why not return to obedience?

Therefore, Zhang Qiang also wants to have the same idea of defecting to the Chinese Empire as his friend Han Chao.

After thinking about it, he was frozen there at this moment.

"Father, according to the son, this Chinese emperor is a generation of masters!" No one expected that when Zhang Qiang was in a dilemma, his son Zhang Zhidong, who was standing aside, suddenly spoke. I saw that his expression was as usual, and there was a hint of old age on his face: "When my son was in his spare time, he once read several copies of the "Nanfang Daily" issued in the south, and the content in them was sprinkled with many contents, among which the most impressive ones were the pages of news about the current affairs, practical knowledge, and publicity. ”

"What this newspaper says is always true. The hole has verified that several of the events it said above are really true. According to the current affairs news written in the newspaper, Sicheng Mansion in Guangxi, which is adjacent to the border, was originally as remote and poor as Xingyi Mansion, and even the population was even more sparse. But now, according to the newspapers, the people there were not able to provide for themselves last year, but this year they will not only have enough to eat, but also have some surplus food. A few days ago, I learned that there were several families on the outskirts of the city who had gone to a relative's house in Silong Prefecture, Sicheng Prefecture, on the opposite side, to beg for food because of a lack of food at home. ”

"And, according to some of the methods of arable land that are described in the newspapers, the yield of crops has really increased. And there are a lot of amazing things, trains and railways that travel thousands of miles a day, and sea ships as big as castles, all of which are true. My son is looking forward to seeing what is depicted in the newspapers! Zhang Zhidong's face was full of yearning, and there was a look of longing in his eyes, and the meaning of his words was nothing more than begging his father to submit to the Chinese Empire.

Zhang Qi seemed to listen.

He thought about his son's words, and it was true!

He has governed Xingyi Mansion for many years, and naturally knows that the situation of Xingyi Mansion is similar to that of his neighbor Sicheng Mansion in Guangxi, but after nearly ten years of his governance, the people of Xingyi Mansion have gradually become much richer than the people of Sicheng Mansion. But unexpectedly, a few years later, he came to Xingyi Mansion again to serve as his parents' official, that is, in the two years last year and this year, all of a sudden, the Xingyi Mansion he governed was much worse than the Sicheng Mansion in Guangxi. Originally, the people of Sicheng Mansion who had vegetables on their faces came to Xingyi Mansion to visit relatives or do business, but now they all have ruddy faces, and the joy from the heart makes the people of Xingyi Mansion very envious.

In the second half of this year alone, hundreds of families in this Xingyi Mansion went to Sicheng Mansion to join relatives and friends, saying that life there was good.

At that time, Zhang Qi felt as if he had been slapped a few times in the face. At that time, he also secretly sent someone to inquire to see which famous minister was governing Sicheng Mansion, but he didn't expect that it was only the thirtieth place in the imperial examination of the Cantonese thieves over there. When he inquired again, he found that it was not the same thing at all.

If he went by himself, he would definitely be much better than the nerd who had just taken the job. Only then did he realize that, as the "Nanfang Daily" said, it was a system problem. Whoever goes to that position can do this.

As a result, Zhang Qiang suddenly remembered his original ambition to benefit the people. In this case, why do you have to worry about betraying the Manchus and surrendering to the Cantonese thieves, and incurring infamy behind you? Are you still worried that Guizhou Governor Jiang Weiyuan will be unfavorable to him? It's a big deal, lead a group of nephews to flee to Guangxi early!

Yes, that's it! Looking at his son's energetic face, Zhang Qiang suddenly felt a heat in his chest, and he felt that he had found his original intention again! For the official for a lifetime, for the benefit of several people!

"That being the case! Brother Nanxi, you and I will plan together, raise big things together, and return to the Ming Lord! ”

Zhang Qiang may not have expected that at the same time, there are many local officials in the state capitals of Sichuan and Guizhou who have the same intention as him, and they are secretly preparing.