With Zuo Maodi's instructions, the whole delegation hurried to eat, and immediately after the meal, they set off and rushed to Qingjiang.

Chen Hongfan regretted a little at this time, and he shouldn't have made an appointment to meet in Qingjiang.

Seeing Zuo Maodi's situation, after going north, I am afraid that it is impossible to make this person submit. Originally, there were three or four points of hope, but now there is none.

Even he himself was a little shaken.

The people who lead the troops are the most practical. The situation here in Jiangbei, I'm afraid that the Eight Banners have nothing to do. Yuan Chonghuan guarded Ningyuan back then, in fact, it was to guard a lonely city, Jinzhou and Juehua were not guarded, and Guangningyuan was a fort, which was not of great significance. Later, they simply only guarded Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan, and they could no longer prevent the Qing army from entering the Gyeonggi area to plunder.

Huaiyang is here, but it can guard dozens of counties in several prefectures very strictly, and the prince's hand has been stretched out in the northern Anhui area, and there are two towns of Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo behind him.

On the line from Fengyang to Luzhou, there are Taiping Mansion, Tongling, and five or six general troops such as Zhang Tianfu and Zhang Tianlu to guard it.

If the entire line along the line of Nanzhili, as well as Feng, Lu, Huai, and Si are integrated with Huaiyang, the Qing army will go south in the future, even if the field battle is still invincible, and it will be difficult to easily sweep [***], depending on the spread of the Jiangnan area.

The top and bottom of the mission can be regarded as having different thoughts. However, on the whole, all the way north, I saw that the Jianghuai land was heavily defended, whether it was military equipment or defense facilities, as well as the morale of the army and the training of soldiers, all aspects were very satisfying.

Originally, he was helpless, his mood was very depressed, and the city of Nanjing had changed greatly, but the Minister of War and the first assistant of the cabinet were willing to sue for peace, and the emperor also agreed to come down, and half of the country fell into the hands of a strong enemy in the north.

And there are a lot of people who read the history of the Ming Dynasty, although the Song and Jin countries were successful in negotiating peace, but they fought for decades in the middle, until both sides were tired later, whether it was the Jin soldiers going south or the Northern Expedition presided over by Song Xiaozong all failed, the north and south sides were really peaceful and stable, and each other sent envoys to ask each other about the national covenant of uncles and nephews, weddings and funerals, just like the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao State in those years.

But in the past few decades, there were fights and talks, and the envoys sent had different encounters, in short, at that time, Jin was strong and Song was weak, and many envoys were rudely insulted or detained, and now along the way, this worry and fear mood has also weakened a lot.

Only when you are strong can you have the confidence to talk to others!

I rushed all the way over, and in the evening, I finally arrived at the Qingjiang River.

Because the former station officials were sent to contact the camp first, there were already officials in the camp who came out to greet them when they crossed Qingjiang County.

The whole mission was also moved by the prosperity of Qingjiang County.

In a matter of months, the entire Qingjiang has expanded by two or three times, and the population is afraid to double. Originally, it was a very prosperous place in Jiangbei, but now it looks like it is no longer under any famous city.

If you only talk about wealth and prosperity, I am afraid that only Quanzhou, the most prosperous seaport city at that time, can be on it.

"Xiaguan has seen Lord Zuo, and the Lord has come from afar, and it has been very hard."

The man who came to greet the mission was a young official of about thirty years, his azure robe was cut very well, his black gauze hat was upright, and he was meticulous.

Because of his outstanding demeanor, although his official character was not high, the mission did not dare to despise him, Zuo Maodi arched his hand, and Ma Shaoyu and Chen Hongfan both returned the courtesy.

"The lower official is Zhang Jiayu of the Secretariat of the Military and Political Department, and on the orders of His Royal Highness the Prince, he led the lords of the northern envoy to the camp to see him."

Zhang Jiayu spoke Lingnan Mandarin with a very strong accent, but fortunately, he spoke very slowly and loudly, so everyone sounded no difficulty.

At that moment, Zuo Mao nodded first, and agreed: "Naturally, I want to go to see His Royal Highness the Prince, please give me the opportunity." ”

If it weren't for the admiration of this trip, the words "please give me the opportunity" in the back would certainly not be spoken. After all, his identity as an envoy is Qincha, he traveled north at the behest of the emperor, and the cardinal government and the military government have ordered him, and the prince is at least nominally not responsible for the political axe, and he is in charge of the army and does not care about government affairs.

"Lord Zuo is polite."

As the secretary of Zhu Cihong's side, Zhang Jiayu is of course well aware of the crown prince's thoughts and thoughts, and the current Zuo Maodi is an important candidate who must be used, if the mission does not come, I am afraid that the prince will have to take the initiative to meet it.

Hearing that the emperor allowed the northern envoy and that the Military Affairs Department and the cabinet had joined forces this time, the prince rarely lost his temper, scolded loudly, and dropped more than a dozen cups.

After calming down, he also planned to use the mission as an opportunity to cooperate with the campaign that would be launched in the next three months.

"By the way," when Zhang Jiayu bowed down to invite everyone, Chen Hongfan interjected: "Where do we settle down?" ”

"Oh, the Secretariat has already prepared the building, Qingjiang here is to rush to the north and south, there are many officials in the past, and now all the post stations are not allowed to stay, but the court is still decent, where there are many serious official officials, special access to the camp building to stay."

Zhang Jiayu laughed heartily and said to Chen Hongfan: "Chen Shuai, but please rest assured, the building is very clean, there are good cooks, and the meals are first-class." ”

"Okay, that's it!"

At this time, when talking about these non-urgent matters, even Ma Shaoyu glanced at Chen Hongfan sideways, and Chen Hongfan didn't dare to say more at this time, and laughed a few times, which can be regarded as revealing the matter.

However, the entourage of the mission was relieved, and it was several days to go north along the way, traveling seventy or eighty miles a day, and the journey was in a hurry, and there was no big post station to rest, under the new system of the imperial court, those big post stations that were originally on the north-south road did not receive officials, and the cost saved was certainly not a few, and the opportunity for local officials to collect redundant fees by taking advantage of the post station fee was also lost, which was also the measure taken by Zhu Cihong after inspecting the counties, especially after seeing with his own eyes that the officials were still collecting miscellaneous fees, and so far, it has been very successful.

As for the ministers' money from the counties, it is directly distributed by the camp, and no miscellaneous fees are allowed to be collected except for the regular payment. The construction of roads and bridges is carried out directly by the departments of the Generalissimo's Office, and has nothing to do with the locality, and of course the funds do not need to be asked by the locality.

This practice is a step further than the practice of leaving only a small amount of funds in the local government during the Northern Song Dynasty and paying all the rest to the central government.

There is no way to do this, although there is a clean government department, but Zhu Cihong feels that under the current premise of transportation roads and communications, if he really relies on the integrity department to assess the integrity of local officials and the situation of charging fees, then how big a yamen will he establish and how many people will he hire?

Weakening local political power, including at the prefectural and county levels, and bringing many things directly to the lowest provincial level, whether it is river control, road construction, or judicial prisons.

As long as there is a small number of public servants in the local government to collect positive contributions, it is enough to deal with sudden emergencies.

Under this line of thinking, the work of abolishing and merging the post stations was carried out vigorously and resolutely, and the northern mission came all the way, but there was no post station, and they could only pay for the people's inns and hostels, and the conditions could never be compared with the national post stations, even if the funds could be reimbursed afterwards, there were still many complaints among the missions.

At the moment when everyone was happy, Chen Hongfan glanced at one of his confidants, and the family member nodded in understanding, at this time, it was almost dusk, and there were already people lighting up the lights in the shops along the street, and when the brigade turned the corner of the street, the family turned around and quietly went in the other direction.

............ "The right squire of the Ministry of Ministers and the right of the Imperial History, passing through Hebei and Kwantung Military Affairs Zuo Maodi, knocking to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." ”

"Ma Shaoyu, the young secretary of the Minister's Servant Temple, knock to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"The ministers and governors know Chen Hongfan and knock to see His Royal Highness the Prince."

As soon as the northern mission arrived, the crown prince was also immediately summoned, and it was also the time to hold the lamp, the palace lamp was lit one after another, and the envoys of the two civil and one military knelt on the ground and greeted Zhu Cihong.

"Gentlemen, please get up, come here, and give the envoys a seat." Before the ministers knocked, Zhu Cihong also stood respectfully with his crossed hands, greeting Chongzhen's well-being to Zuo Maodi. In this era, if a person is not filial, then everything is meaningless. Especially in the position of the prince of a country, filial piety is the first.

Many of the attendants had been waiting for a long time, and after listening to the prince's orders, they came in one after another, moved into their chairs, put hot tea on the tables, and then quietly retreated.

At that time, the pro-feudal clan mostly used eunuchs, but the prince used them all the trained and most elite direct guards, who were full of masculinity and neatness, and invisibly, there was a unique atmosphere that was shown.

"The minister went all the way north and saw a lot."

After sitting down, Zuo Maodi couldn't hide his excitement, and said respectfully to the crown prince: "Your Royal Highness governs the people, manages finances, and trains soldiers, all of which are superior, and the ministers are very respectful. ”

This is from sincerity, so it is very emotional to say, and the eyes are full of respect.

Zuo Maodi is now barely a major minister of the court, and he has passed by with prestige or something, and at this time, he praised the crown prince like this, and the officials standing on the side were also looking left and right, and there was a smile in his eyes that could not be concealed.

In any case, the crown prince's prestige is growing, which is a great thing.

Zuo Maodi is like this, Chen Hongfan and Ma Shaoyu are of course also close behind, but the status of the two is far inferior to Zuo Maodi, and they have their own thoughts, so when they talk about it, they are not so sincere, but seem to be deliberately flattering and patting the horse.

(To be continued)