In the flower hall of the main hall of the Governor's Mansion in Guangzhou, smoke shrouded in smoke, and several officials chatted with each other while smoking cigarettes, but they were all absent-minded, looking out of the hall from time to time, as if waiting for someone.

"The Governor has gone to General Hahamu's banquet, and I'm afraid I won't be able to come back for a while, I'm afraid we'll have to wait, why don't you rub it twice?"

A middle-aged man in his thirties, not tall but shrewd, said to the others with a smile, except for him, everyone in the hall was dressed in official uniforms, but he was dressed in silk, and he looked like a businessman rather than an official, but listening to the tone of the voice, he was afraid that he was a person who was quite close to the governor.

"Come on, you Li Guibao are a close confidant of the Governor's Mansion, but a few of us are subordinates of foreign officials, how dare we rub circles in the Governor's Mansion like you?"

An official who wore it from the top of the third grade said with a smile as he flipped the snow-white lining of the cuffs outward. This person is the political envoy of Guangdong, Zuo Qing, who was originally a subordinate of Li Qifeng, the first governor of Guangdong, and after the court dismissed the governor of Guangdong in the sixth year of Shunzhi and changed it to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he joined the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi together with the original political envoy, and became a subordinate of the governor Li Shutai, in charge of Guangdong's money and grain affairs, and he can be regarded as the first few powerful figures in the governor's yamen.

The official sitting on the second chair next to Zuo Qing looked quite young, only in his twenties, but he wore a five-grade top, he was the only one present who did not smoke, and when he saw that the smoke in the hall was too big, he frowned and got up and walked to the window, and said with a wry smile: "You smoke this cigarette is really choking, alas." I'd better open the window to let me breathe, or I'll choke on you. ”

"I choked Mr. Hong, forgive my sins. We are all used to smoking in the north, and this place in Guangdong is very wet, and if you don't take a few puffs, everyone will always feel uncomfortable. ”

Li Guibao laughed, got up and walked to the door and called outside: "The tea is cold, and I won't add some heat to a few adults." ”

The people who were waiting outside listened to Gui Bao's instructions, and hurriedly came in with teapots and added hot tea one by one.

That Hong Gongzi and Gui Bao came to Guangzhou all the way. Knowing that he was oily, he was not surprised, so he chuckled and sat back down.

The others listened to Gui Bao call the young man Hong Gongzi. He was quite polite to him, and they were all a little surprised, and they looked at this five-grade official again one by one, with doubts in their eyes.

Zuo Qing also guessed in his heart who this Hong Gongzi was. Although he also participated in politics from Sanpin. is also ranked in the governor's yamen, but who is this Hong Gongzi, Li Guibao has never mentioned it to him. In his eyes, he couldn't help but complain a little about Li Guibao.

Seeing this, Li Guibao knew that he couldn't hide it from them, otherwise Zuo Qing would have to hold a grudge against himself, and it was not a good thing to keep it secret, so he introduced it to everyone: "Everyone. This Hong Gongzi is the eldest son of Lord Hong Chengchou of the Five Provinces, and he is also the second and thirty Jinshi of the Yiwei Branch last year. The emperor personally conferred on Lord Hong Shiminghong, who was in charge of the Ministry of Rites. ”

As soon as the words fell, the few people sitting there, including Zuo Qing, couldn't sit still, and got up one by one and bowed their hands to Hong Shiming.

"You don't have to be like this, my father is my father, but I am me, I am still an official in terms of official position, where do you dare to be so generous to your lords!"

Hong Shiming smiled and greeted everyone, but his heart was quite proud, his father can be said to be the founding hero of the Qing Dynasty, and now he is responsible for the southeast war for the Qing Dynasty, and so on in the future, the Yongli regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty will be pacified, and his father will be crowned king and duke, even he will have an unlimited future.

"Gongzi Hong is a Beijing official, where can he compare with these foreign officials such as me, his future as Hong Gongzi is beyond the reach of our gang, maybe in the future, Gongzi Hong will help us one or two, and the next official will not mention it."

Zuo Qing said with a smile on his face, and motioned to everyone to quickly extinguish the cigarette pouch, so as not to choke Hong Shiming. Everyone hurriedly put down their cigarette pouches and put out the fire casually.

Hong Shiming was used in his heart, but he nodded to everyone with a slight apology on his face, and asked everyone to sit down and talk.

After everyone sat down, they couldn't help but wonder what Hong Chengchou's son was not in Beijing to be the head of his Ministry of Rites, so what was he doing in Guangzhou?

Everyone was confused, but they didn't dare to ask how they would do such taboo things.

It is rare to sit in the same room with Hong Chengchou's son, Zuo Qing also wants to tie up this Hong son, thinking that this person is from last year's Jinshi, so he must be excellent in his studies, so he has to find an introduction for Hong Shiming to perform, so it is not a silent slap on his ass, how can he not know in his heart that he will inherit this love one day. Just as he was thinking about how to speak, there was a noise outside.

"Your Excellency is back."

With the voices of the subordinates, Li Shuotai, the governor of Liangguang, stepped into the flower hall, and Xu drank wine from Hahamu, his face was a little red.

"Slave Gui Bao to the master, please be safe!"

Li Guibao stepped forward and gave Li Shutai a thousand.

"Your Majesty has seen the Governor!"

Zuo Qing and other officials also stepped forward to salute Li Shutai, and after everyone saw the salute, Hong Shiming stepped forward to salute.

Li Shutai laughed, helped Hong Shiming up, and said very kindly: "Nephew Hong Xian, please get up, hurry up!" Saying that, Hong Shiming walked into the hall, and sat down in his main seat, signaling Hong Shiming to be next to him. The next man stepped forward to pour him wine and tea.

"Is your father well?"

"Thanks to my lord's concern, my father is all right."

"Okay, good, your father is the pillar of the Qing Dynasty, and he is the Optimus Prime of the southeast, he is in good health in the southeast, and the Qing Dynasty is good."

Li Shutai did not say anything against his heart, but sincerely hoped that Hong Chengchou would be in good health, and he clearly knew what Hong Chengchou meant to the Qing Dynasty.

After a few more cold words, Hong Shiming said: "The lower official came to Guangzhou to hold the Guangdong Township Examination for the Imperial Court, and I met my father in Hunan by the way, and my father asked me to bring a letter to my uncle. ”

"Oh? Where is the faith? ”

As soon as he heard that Hong Chengchou had a letter, Li Shutai couldn't help but lean forward. Hong Shiming took out the letter from his arms and handed it to Li Shutai. Li Shutai took it and couldn't wait to tear open the fire seal and read it word by word.

Li Guibao, Zuo Qing and others knew that there must be something important in Hong Chengchou's letter, so no one dared to make a sound, holding their breath and waiting.

In the middle of the ring, Li Shutai closed the letter and put it on the desk, took a sip of tea, and then smiled bitterly, and said to Hong Shiming and Zuo Qing and others: "There are people in Beijing who want to move their officials to Fujian and Zhejiang, they only say that Nanmingsun and Li are strife, and the imperial court is about to use troops on a large scale, and the great merit is at your fingertips, but I don't know that the current affairs in Guangdong are very tricky, and it is more troublesome than Li Laohu's attack in the previous two years, if you really want to move the officials, they can't clean up this mess!" (To be continued.) )