It was another sunny morning, Su Baiyi stood on the bank of the Yellow River, looking at the two big boats in the river and the hundred and ten guards with him, feeling that the weather in the Ming Dynasty was very strange.

For more than a year, there has been little rain, and it is all sunny.

I don't know what's wrong with this earth.

"Xia Guan wishes your lord all the best!" Wang Zheng arched his hands and stood behind Su Baiyi.

Su Baiyi nodded, and said lightly: "This governor's trip will take more than one month, and at least twenty days to return." Explain your affairs, and you must always keep it in mind, and do not make the slightest mistake. ”

Since Annan's side has successfully brokered the match, it is still necessary to make a trip in person, whether it is for the purpose of assistance or envoyship, this is not a matter that can be decided privately, and it must be declared to the imperial court in person, and only after getting the letter from the Ministry of Rites can he go forward with great fanfare. and recently captured the grass king Luo Rucai, who swallowed him 150,000 people, this matter was just reported to the military department as a routine The specific results, and now the Guide Mansion is basically stable, and he will personally go to the emperor to explain it.

The two things are added together, and it is just a trip to Beijing.

But before entering Beijing, there was still a lot of work that was not free to be arranged, so Wang Zheng could only handle it on his behalf.

For example, when the envoy to Annam Nguyen was about to be dispatched, Wang Zheng had to help arrange the details of the mission, and also assemble a set of steam equipment that had just been produced into a turbine and install it on the main ship, and Su Baiyi would be used as a double insurance.

In addition, the development of real large-scale steam equipment also needs to be watched. Not long ago, Luo Rucai besieged Guide, and the secret scientific research courtyard on the edge of Nanhu Lake was emptied, and now the equipment and personnel for the production of steam engines have to be rearranged, and this work needs to be kept absolutely secret.

The production of railroad tracks also had to be restarted, and all the more than 60 blast furnaces had been stopped because of the siege by Luo Rucai, and when the workers re-arrived at the steel workshop, they found that some of these blast furnaces had been destroyed or razed, and they all needed to be rebuilt or reinforced.

There was also the resettlement of civilians and the rebuilding of homes after the war.

In this way, the work is very heavy.

But Su Baiyi has a limited number of people at hand, and if Fu Lin is here, he can indeed be in charge alone, but Fu Lin has to be in charge of the bridge and tunnel brigade, and he can't spare time at all.

So this matter naturally fell into the hands of Wang Zheng.

Wang Zheng is the chief engineer of the railway, and his level is two levels lower than Su Baiyi, which is regarded as the third grade, except for Su Baiyi, he is the biggest official in the entire railway yamen, so it is appropriate for him to coordinate the affairs of the yamen.

"Subordinates should do their best!" What should be done Su Baiyi has already told him in general, Wang Zheng is a cadre in his fifties, he doesn't need too much allocation, he will naturally think about the specific details.

"Okay, Lord Wang, you have a lot of things on your hands, don't send them away, this governor is gone!" Su Baiyi waved his hand, leaving Wang Zheng with a chic back, taking Li Suo and the others on the boat, and heading east along the river.

Nowadays the land is not very peaceful, and it is quite slow to walk, although there will be some unknown dangers at sea, but as long as you sail along the coastline, there is an old captain in the sea, and the problem is not very big.

This time, in addition to the people brought by Su Baiyi and Li Suo, there was also Guo Cheng, and more than 100 specially trained Jinyi guards, because he was intercepted and killed by the civilian group at sea last time, so he left a careful note this time, not only brought 100 soldiers, but also equipped with two artillery pieces on board, which were dismantled from the city.

As for taking Guo Cheng with him, it was because Guo Cheng himself was just a local tyrant of the township regiment, and he did not have fame and official position, and this time he went to Guide Mansion to be the icing on the cake, and Su Baiyi intended to collect this fierce general, so he took him into Beijing with him, and when the time was right, he would be able to make contributions in the future.

At this time, it was in July and August, the south wind blew urgently, the big ship was smooth on the sea, starting from the mouth of the river to the north, all the way around the Shandong Peninsula into the Bohai Sea, turned to the west, five days later the ship landed, on the Tianjin Wei Wharf.

On the wharf, there were already local Jinyi guards gathered to greet them, temporarily take care of the boat, and got a hundred and ten horses for Su Baiyi and his party to ride. In addition to the position of railway governor, Su Baiyi also has the tooth tag of Jinyiwei on his body, and he is considered the number two person in Jinyiwei, so it is not strange that Jinyiwei greets him everywhere he goes. In fact, the chief yamen of the Ming Jinyi Wei is not in Beijing, the real yamen is in Tianjin, Tianjin Wei, it can be said that it is the nest of the Jinyi Wei, and Su Baiyi can receive such courtesy after arriving here.

After a day of galloping on horseback, everyone saw a big black city in front of them, and the people at the gate were flowing endlessly, and they smelled a smell of smoke and dust in the city from afar, which was the destination of this trip, Jingshi.

"It's a little late today, let's find a place to rest first, and then go to the military department early tomorrow morning!" Su Baiyi dismounted, and more than 100 people fell on the street at the same time, and the huge street was suddenly crowded.

Li Suo arched his hand and said: "My lord, the villain wants to go to Lord Luo's side, after all, Lord Luo is a villain, and there are some things that need to be reported." ”

"Hmm!" Su Baiyi patted him on the shoulder and said, "Okay, but you wait a minute, help me bring a letter to Lord Luo!" Su Baiyi took out a large envelope sealed with fire paint from his sleeve and handed it to Li Suo.

Luo Yangxing is the commander of the Jinyi Guard, openly and secretly showing goodwill, and usually helps him. The so-called reciprocating peach, Su Baiyi actually wanted to help him for a long time, but unfortunately Luo Yangxing was not interested in participating in the railway auction at the beginning, and the railway is the property of the state, since Luo Yangxing is not interested, he can't just take the state-owned assets to do favors.

This time I came to Beijing, no matter how I said it, I should go to Luo Yangxing's Mansion to visit, but first, he is a second-grade member, and Luo Yangxing is a third-grade person, not to mention whether it is in line with the rules or not, just two heavyweights in the court are privately connected in tandem, in case he is caught by which imperial history and complains in front of the emperor, this is a curse or a blessing.

So Su Baiyi could only regretfully dismiss the idea of visiting Luo Yangxing.

However, the plums still have to be delivered.

Sealed in his envelope was not a letter, but a share sheet.

He doesn't have the right to give away the shares of the railway, but the shipyard is his own, and it doesn't matter if he sends out a share of the shipyard's shares.

There are no eternal friends in the court, only eternal interests.

A railroad tied him to the interests of the Ming elite, and the shipyard tied the interests to the Jinyiwei, including the big businessmen from all over the country.

Therefore, the potential power that Su Baiyi now has in his hands is a little surprising when he thinks about it. And these forces are of great use at critical moments.

……

The weather in Jingshi is much colder than that of Guide Mansion.

It's only August, but in the morning, you already need to wear a thick layer of armor.

Early in the morning of this day, Su Baiyi asked Li Suo to go to the General Administration Department and the Ministry of War with the name post, and reported a set of identical merit sheets.

Guide Mansion fought a perfect victory, not only protecting the safety of the people, but also completely eliminating Luo Rucai's troops and capturing Cao Cao, one of the commanders of the 36 battalions, which is a great achievement.

Such a big credit must be reported.

Su Baiyi's report has a long list, including Geng Zhongming, Kong Youde and Mao Chenglu, the three main generals who defend the city, as well as Li Suo, a hundred households of Jinyi Wei, and his friends Yang Juan and Ye An, who came to help, and the rest of Wang Zheng, Anni and other railway officials also have the merit of pacifying and evacuating, and even the merits of the two eunuchs He Shan and Zhao Heng were greatly appreciated by Su Baiyi.

When I arrived in Beijing last night, I had already communicated with the palace, and if there was no accident, I would definitely be able to get the emperor's summons after this morning.

But Su Baiyi waited left and right, and waited until ten o'clock in the morning before he saw the emperor's envoy come to pass on him, so he couldn't sit still. After a few wandering alone, there was no place to go, I wanted to go to Zhang Zhiji's house to see if the curly hair on his old face was still there, but then I thought that my current identity was not what it used to be, and it was better not to see the courtiers in private or not.

There was nothing to do for a while, Su Baiyi walked and walked to the palace gate, thinking that several ministers of the cabinet should be working in Wenyuan Pavilion, and he hadn't visited Xu Guangqi for a long time, so he took out his tooth card and showed it to the guards guarding the palace gate, and walked towards Wenyuan Pavilion.

Xu Guangqi is still quite interesting.

He had no objection to the construction of the railway, and when raising funds, he also asked his in-law Gu Changzuo to go to Guide Mansion to participate in the auction in person, and at that time he did not know that Su Baiyi's railway would be completed in advance. With this support, Su Baiyi felt that he wanted to visit the old prime minister.

The cabinet as an office organization, set up in the inner city of the imperial city Wenyuan Pavilion, in the south of the Wenhua Palace, from the noon gate into the imperial city, in front of the first of the three halls of the Imperial Palace, turn right to the east to enter the Huiji Gate, is where the Wenyuan Pavilion is located.

Here Wenyuan Pavilion is like an ordinary large quadrangle, there are no wings on the left and right, only in the northernmost part there is a huge main house, the main house is cut off, part of it has become the office of the cabinet ministers, and part of it is the place where the cabinet and some other people live, the environment inside is not bad, but to say that the office area, hehe, is slightly cramped.

"Who are you? The cabinet is heavy, how casually it came in. Su Baiyi had just entered the courtyard and had not yet entered the main hall where the cabinet was located, when he was stopped by Naolang Zhang Jun.

"Ah......" Su Baiyi was stunned, and said: "This official came to visit Xu Ge Lao, I don't know if Xu Ge Lao is here?" ”

Zhang Jun didn't know Su Baiyi, but his IQ was not bad, the official in front of him who looked more than ten years younger than himself, one official at a time, contained the temperament of a superior in his gestures, and came over to see the first assistant of the cabinet by name. Zhang Jun doesn't think it's a dream prodigal.

After all, this is the inner city of the palace, can the prodigal son of the dream enter?

"Your Excellency?" Zhang Jun saluted respectfully.

Su Baiyi nodded and said, "No need to be polite, you tell Elder Xu Ge, just say that Su Baiyi will come to Guide Mansion." ”

"Ah...... You are ......" Zhang Jun raised his head in surprise, finally knowing who this was.