On the 26th day of July in the Qing Dynasty, Lu Fatzi returned to Qujing City in the welcome of tens of thousands of Qujing people, and when Lu Fatzi officially took over the prefect's seal from the hands of the former prefect Zhang Gaomo, the cheers of the Qujing people were so loud that they almost collapsed the newly built city gate building in Qujing City. On the fat face of the fat man who was trying to keep a calm smile, there was finally a look of relief and arrogance to the extreme.

It's not easy, it's really not easy, in the nearly half a year since he left Qujing, Lu Fatzi, who has a ghost in his heart, can't count how many times he has been awakened from a nightmare, or dreamed that he was accidentally exposed, was caught by the mite ruler, and caught Yanjing like Zha Rulong and was executed by Ling Chi or beheaded on the spot; or dreamed that because he changed history, Wu Sangui suddenly died violently or successfully withdrew from the domain, causing his previous efforts to be wasted, and his hard work was cheaper than the mite dog raised by the son of a bitch; Otherwise, he dreamed that Wu Sangui suddenly raised troops, and he couldn't rush back to Yunnan in time, and was detained on the spot by Han Annihilation from other places, and the hard work he poured into Qujing's army cheapened Wu Lao Han in vain.

All kinds of worst-case possibilities keep Fat Lu awake at night, his food is unpleasant, and he can't sleep peacefully at night. And now, it is finally relaxed, after this hurdle, for Lu Fatzi, the future is already open, and the next question is how to force or induce Wu Sangui, the king of anti-water, in the shortest possible time.

Returning to Qujing, Shang Wanzhen had to take Lu Bangjing to cry in front of Lu Fatzi, uncle Qin Chuanwu and cousins Qin Yong and Qin Mo, as well as Lu Fatzi's hardcore lackeys Li Tianzhi and the Liu family brothers who stayed in Qujing, and others also had to hug Lu Fatzi and cry a few times, telling each other about their farewells, although these scenes are touching, but they are also really tasteless, so I will not detail them one by one here. Only Chen Dou, who was Lu Fatzi's deputy in Qujing before and has now officially served as the magistrate of Qujing, still has the gloomy and ugly face that Lu Fatzi owes him eight hundred taels of silver, but the occasional joy in a pair of mouse eyes makes Lu Fatzi feel extremely warm - it's still good for Qujing.

Born to be busy, his butt has not yet been hot in the position of the prefect, and he has not even found time to meet with the civil and military officials of one county, one Wei and three prefectures of Qujing Mansion as usual, and Sha Xiangde, a confidant of the new Yunnan governor Zhu Guozhi, took the official document of the governor's yamen and came to Lu Fatzi and handed the official document to Lu Fatzi. When Lu Fatzi opened the official document and looked at it, he saw that the content was that he ordered himself to go to Kunming with Sha Xiangde to visit Zhu Zhongcheng, the governor of Yunnan.

"Sha Bantou, it's not that the subordinate officials refuse to obey orders." Holding the official document, Lu Fatzi, who was determined to rein in his edge and no longer attract attention, was a little embarrassed, and said to Sha Xiangde, the head of Zhu Guozhi's yamen official team, in a low voice: "It's just that the lower officials have just taken over, and they haven't met with the big and small officials of Qujing Mansion as usual, and now that it is the autumn harvest, there are a lot of miscellaneous chores such as cutting, boiling and harvesting the Eight Banners Fushou ointment, and it is really difficult to walk away." Can you trouble Sha Bantou to return to Lord Zhongcheng, wait for the lower officials to be busy for a while, and then go to Kunming to visit Lord Zhongcheng? ”

If he was going to change to another prefect, the governor dared to shirk when he summoned him, and Sha Xiangde, who was notorious in Yunnan and was never under the rule of Zhu Guo, had already pulled his face down, and he had already said ugly words. However, in view of the toughness of Lu Fatzi's backstage, as well as the notorious reputation for confronting his boss and rectifying his boss, Sha Bantou, who had been instructed by Zhu Guozhi, was rarely not angry, but just tried to squeeze out some smiles and said: "Lu Futai, of course you understand your difficulties, but this is a summons from Lord Zhongcheng, and it is also Lord Zhongcheng's special care for Lord Futai. ”

"But I'm so busy here." Lu Fatzi was extremely embarrassed, and asked tentatively: "Sha Bantou, I bother you to return to Lord Zhongcheng, Xiaguan ...... twenty days, oh, half a month later, Xiaguan must go to Kunming to meet Lord Zhongcheng, is this okay?" ”

"Lord Futai, if the lowly function is the master of Lord Zhongcheng, then there is no need for Lord Futai to order, and the lowly position will agree immediately." Sha Xiangde smiled more and more humbly, but he refused to make any concessions, but said with a smile on his face: "But before the lowly post came to Qujing, Lord Zhongcheng specially explained that if you want to be humble, you must invite the Lord of Futai to Qujing, otherwise, you will definitely be punished for the crime of ineffective handling of the lowly job." Therefore, I also ask the people of the University of Futai to understand and understand the difficulties of us as errands, and do not let our humble duties be embarrassed. ”

Sha Xiangde's attitude was so resolute, Lu Fatzi was also a little embarrassed and helpless for a while, at this time, Chen Dou, who was standing on the side, suddenly made a gesture to Lu Fatzi, and swiped his right hand a few times, Lu Fatzi suddenly realized, and secretly scolded himself for forgetting the officialdom for a few days without being an official, and hurriedly beckoned Xiao Erlang to the front, whispered a few words in his ear, and Xiao Erlang took the order and hurried away.

After a while, Xiao Erlang came back from outside the door with two heavy packages, ran to Sha Xiangde, put the small package in front of Sha Xiangde first, nodded and said: "Sha Bantou, you have come all the way to Qujing, a little local product is not a respect, I hope you must not dislike it." ”

After that, Xiao Erlang put down the big package again, and said with a smile: "As for this bag of sustenances, it is a little inconspicuous thing that my young master respects Lord Zhongcheng, and it is not worth much, so please pass it on to Sha Bantou on your behalf." For hard work, my young master will definitely have a good reward in the future. ”

Sha Xiangde easily checked the package that the fat man Lu gave him, and found that the weight was at least one hundred taels, and suddenly smiled, and immediately got up and said: "Thank you for the reward of Lord Futai, please rest assured, after returning to Kunming, I will truthfully report the difficulties of Lord Futai to Lord Zhongcheng, please give Lord Futai more time, and wait for Lord Futai to finish his business before going to Kunming." ”

"In that case, then there is the head of the Raushaban." Fat Lu returned the salute and ordered: "Erlang, please go down to eat at Shabantou, let the best wine and food in the room, and make Shabantou feel at home." Sha Xiangde thanked him repeatedly, and happily followed Xiao Erlang down.

As soon as Sha Xiangde and Xiao Erlang left, Fat Lu smiled bitterly at Chen Dou: "Thank you Lord Chen for reminding me, I haven't been an official for half a year, and I almost forgot about this set." ”

"Lord Futai is polite, it's just a gesture." Chen Dou said lightly: "But the lower official still has to remind Lord Futai, today's few hundred taels of silver you will definitely not be able to send away our Lord Zhongcheng, our Lord Zhongcheng came to Yunnan to take office this time, and the cash is clearly marked at the real price." Just for the greeting gift, the prefect of the first-class state capital will each get 3,000 taels of silver, the other state capitals will receive 2,000 taels of silver per person, the county order will be the first level, the first-class county will be 1,000 per person, the second-class county will be 800, and the third-class county will be 600, and many will not be less. ”

"And this?" Fat Lu was very curious.

"Absolutely." Chen Dou nodded solemnly and said: "Feng Su, the prefect of Dali, is a rare Qing official among our Western Election Officials, because he couldn't come up with this meeting silver, he was forced to cry by our Lord Zhongcheng, and in the end, it was the prince who advanced three thousand taels of silver for him, so he barely managed to get through. (Note: Historical facts, contained in the "Jiashen Dynasty Affairs" and "Yunnan Affairs".) ）

"Even Feng Laoshi is so blackmailed? If it's like this, the prince doesn't care? Fat Lu was even more surprised.

"It's going to be a sycophant." Chen Dou said disdainfully: "When appreciating peonies in April, the prince made a peony poem, and he not only immediately made his own poems and sang them, but also forced all the officials present to make poems to accompany him. Also, other governors visited the prince, including the previous one in the forest, all of them made a thousand salutes, but he was the only one who knelt and bowed, so although the prince looked down on him, he didn't bother to take care of him for his sake. After all, for the prince, it is much better to let a corrupt and bribery sycophant be the governor than to let a person like Gan Wenkun come to the governor of Yunnan. ”

"Hehe, it's really such a superb." Lu Fatzi laughed out loud, and couldn't help but think of Zhu Guozhi in the later mite relic drama, clear as water and as bright as a mirror, angry Hai Rui was ashamed to kill Bao Gong, and at the end he killed his wife and son to die as a mite - as for what kind of super-strength metal the faces of these mite relict screenwriters are made of, Lu Fatzi can't say anything that he can't study thoroughly.

After laughing, Fat Lu said again: "So, this old thing called me back to Kunming this time, and he wanted to make a lot of money from me?" But it doesn't matter, as long as you can use silver to send it, it's basically easier to deal with. ”

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Chen Dou shook his head and said with a solemn face: "The lower officials suspect that Zhu Guozhi urgently summoned the adults to return to Kunming this time, but I am afraid that the ten ** is related to the taxation of the Eight Banners Fushou Ointment, and this problem is too tight in the court during this time. The lower officials were also worried that Zhu Guozhi would not be able to take advantage of the fact that Qujing Mansion was the only state capital in Yunnan that allowed the cultivation of Eight Banners Fushou Paste by the people, so that the adults could take the lead and cooperate with the imperial court to put pressure on the prince on the issue of taxation of Eight Banners Fushou Cream. ”

Fat Lu was stunned for a while, and only slapped the coffee table for a while, and said bitterly: "It's best not to be expected by you, otherwise, I'm a rat drilling bellows, and I'll be angry at both ends!" Standing on the side of the imperial court, in favor of taxing the Eight Banners Fushou Paste and imposing heavy taxes, then the prince must not tear me up? Standing on the side of the prince and resolutely opposing the imperial court's taxation of the Eight Banners Fushou Cream, then the suspicion that I finally got rid of will not come back to me? ”

"Xia Guan also hopes that he guessed wrong." Chen Dou said helplessly: "But from the analysis of various signs, this may be too big." The lower officials even suspected that the imperial court had put you back to Qujing as the prefect at this juncture, maybe it was your opponent again, in order to force you into a dilemma. ”

Fat Lu was dumbfounded, and after carefully calculating and analyzing for a long time, Fat Lu couldn't help but pat his fat forehead and wailed, "I'm too happy, I'm too early, I fell into someone else's trap again, I'm still happy like this?" Damn, this time it's the ghost of the four bitches again, who deliberately recommended me to return to Qujing as the prefect, in order to push me to the forefront. ”

………………

"Ahh Ahh ”

Fat Lu seemed to have really wronged Kong Sigege this time, almost at the same time in the capital, Kong Sigege, who was riding naked on Xiong Ci's scholar and working hard, suddenly sneezed twice, and Xiong Daxue hurriedly asked with concern: "Sigege, is it cold?" Do you want to change your position? ”

"No need, my mother is not pinched with tofu, and she will catch a cold in July?" Kong Sizhen snorted very confidently, and asked suspiciously: "It's you, why are you always secretly sneering for no reason these days?" It was the same just now, and you smiled so happily, and you picked up a big ingot? ”

"No? Si Gege is wrong, when did I secretly sneer? Scholar Xiong denied it, but on the corner of his mouth, a cold smile still appeared uncontrollably, and he said in his heart: "Count the time, you Lu Fatzi should also return to Qujing Mansion, and you should find out that Lao Tzu asked the emperor to put you back in Yunnan, aren't you really afraid of you?" ”

………………

In desperation, Lu Fatzi had to hold the mind of taking one step at a time to see how to adapt to the situation, put this problem aside for the time being, and concentrate on handling official affairs and making up for the stagnation of weapons technology caused by his temporary departure from Yunnan. And with Zhu Fangdan and Chen Dou to help on the official side, Fat Lu really didn't need to worry too much, just gave Zhu Fangdan a task, and then rushed into the firearms camp of Nule Peak to get busy.

In view of the backward medical system of this era, the army's reserve and training of military doctors is seriously insufficient, and the mortality rate of wounded soldiers is extremely high, in order to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty in the future, Lu Fatzi ordered Zhu Fangdan to develop and research on the unique Panax notoginseng in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces - Yunnan Baiyao! At the same time, thanks to the blessings of the compradors of later generations, Lu Fatzi remembered some of the Yunnan Baiyao formulas announced in the United States, and completely provided these formulas to Zhu Fangdan for research and matching, so that he could make Yunnan Baiyao and Yunnan Baiyao at all costs!

Lu Fatzi believes that as long as Zhu Fangdan can get Yunnan Baiyao in advance as he wishes, then on the battlefield of the anti-Qing Dynasty, the more brave Yungui soldiers will inevitably make those mites and dogs Han Jian drink a pot, and at the same time, it can also greatly make up for the shortcomings of Yungui people and save the lives of countless brave soldiers.

In order to better and faster eliminate the mite Qing invaders, in the nearly half a year after leaving Yunnan, Lu Fatzi not only designed several airship longitudinal techniques, handed over to the Yuxi camp in Pingxi Wangfu for experimental application, to check the actual effect, but also extremely vicious design of a rather advanced fragmentation grenade - the three good brand safety gunpowder or No. 3 brand nitrocellulose into the warhead, with the curled copper wire rubbing the glass powder to produce sparks, without ignition can ignite the fuse, and in one fell swoop, the power is very amazing.

In addition, Lu Fatzi also insidiously designed the twelve-pound bronze howitzer invented in the Napoleonic era, and also found the best formula of bronze copper tin eight to one, and began trial production, intending to make up for the various weaknesses of the cumbersome and backward Hongyi cannon - the biggest advantage of this bronze cannon is that it is light in weight, convenient and flexible, and the muzzle can be fired and almost will not explode.

After working so busy for more than ten days, on the eighth day of the eighth month of August, when the acquisition of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste of Qujing folk was nearing the end, Lu Fatzi returned to Qujing City with full of tiredness, but before Lu Fatzi could lie down and take a good rest, Chen Dou hurriedly came to Lu Fatzi again. As soon as they met, Chen Dou said straight to the point: "It's good that Lord Futai is back, Xia Guan originally planned to use carrier pigeons to contact adults, please return to Qujing City as soon as possible." ”

"What's wrong?" Fat Lu asked as he wiped his face with a cotton cloth.

"Kunming just sent news with carrier pigeons, and Zhu Guozhi is here." Chen Dou replied: "We set off from Kunming this morning, and our destination is Qujing, and the rumors released are also coming to our Qujing to inspect. ”

"Didn't you say that I was allowed to rush to Kunming before August 15?" Fat Lu said suspiciously: "Why did you change your mind again and come to Qujing by yourself?" ”

"There is a ninety percent chance that it is for the taxation of the Eight Banners Fushou Cream." Chen Dou replied categorically: "Because the carrier pigeon also brought an order from the prince, if Zhu Guozhi asks for a tax on the Eight Banners Fushou Cream, he must not agree." In addition, I want you to try to find out the bottom limit of the imperial court's taxation from Zhu Guozhi and Gan Wenkun's mouths, and see how the imperial court intends to tax the Eight Banners Fushou Cream. ”

"Smack." The cotton towel in Fat Lu's hand fell to the ground, and his fat face also showed a solemn look.

"Lord Futai, what's wrong with you?" Chen Dou was surprised and asked, "With your surname, you shouldn't be scared like this by this kind of thing, right?" Zhu Guozhi forced you to tax the Eight Banners Fushou Cream, you used the excuse that the imperial court ordered the Eight Banners Fushou Paste not to refuse to pay taxes, and then stuffed some silver to send that old thing, you should be able to pass the customs, don't worry about it, right? ”

"That's not what I'm worried about." Lu Fatzi didn't bother to pick up cotton towels, so he directly stood up with a fat face that was only half wiped off, sat on the chair next to him, and said with a gloomy face: "What I'm worried about is the prince's attitude towards this matter, judging from the order that the prince asked me to try to get through the mouth of Zhu Guozhi and Gan Wenkun to listen to the bottom limit of the imperial court's taxation, our prince is getting by again, as long as the tax collected by the imperial court is not too much, the prince can accept it, and the prince will definitely not fight hard and carry it to the end with the imperial court." ”

"yes, why didn't I think of that?" Chen Dou was also stunned for a moment, and exclaimed, "With the surname of the prince, it is very possible to do this kind of thing, and no one can persuade him." ”

"Why are we such a prince? I've already made so many good things, why can't he still make up his mind to fight Emperor Mazi head-on to the end? Still having the idea of getting by? Fat Lu groaned in pain, he really couldn't understand Wu Laohan's way of thinking, why was he so weak and deceitful?

After thinking for a while, Fat Lu suddenly slapped the table heavily, gritted his teeth and said: "No, I have to find a way to go to Kunming quickly, I must not give in anymore, let alone fall into the trap of boiling frogs in warm water in the imperial court again!" ”

"Lord Futai, do you mean that you want to persuade the prince not to make the slightest concession on the issue of taxation of the Eight Banners Fushou Cream?" Chen Dou asked tentatively. Seeing that Fat Lu nodded, Chen Dou sighed, lowered his voice and said, "Lord Futai, if you plan to do this, Xia Guan feels that your hope of success is extremely slim. ”

"Lord Futai, you can think about it carefully, if you can send the court away for a small amount of silver, why should the prince and the generals under the prince take the risk of doing what Lord Futai wants? Why don't you spend a little money to feed the dog and buy a peace? Therefore, Xia Guan believes that it is impossible for Lord Futai's plan to succeed - even if the prince agrees, the civil and military officials under the prince will not agree. ”

Fat Lu lowered his head and was silent, and only after a while did he ask, "Then what does Lord Chen have in mind?" ”

"Lord Futai, why can't you think differently?" Chen Dou's voice suddenly became extremely cold, "Since Lord Futai, you are destined to be unable to convince the prince and the court to carry it to the end, then why can't you try it, let our Mazi Emperor and the court take a tougher attitude towards the prince, and prescribe a condition that the prince absolutely cannot accept, forcing the prince and the entire Pingxi palace to the point of no retreat?!" ”

Fat Lu's body was shocked, and when he raised his head again, a smile had already appeared on the corner of Fat Lu's mouth, and he asked, "Lord Chen, how about we burn yellow paper and worship brothers?" ”

(To be continued)