Luo Jian thought about it very late before falling asleep, and in the cold night of early spring, it was not only Luo Jian who couldn't sleep in bed, but Hou Fangyu in Cangzhou City was also tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep.

Tonight, the old lady Hou called Hou Fangyu and scolded him again, it is said that Li Xiangjun and the child have been running away for so long, not to mention that now the war clouds are thick, and the Manchu court can't care about letting him send his grandson to the capital as a hostage, the old lady shouldn't be angry, but the old lady just pointed at Hou Fangyu's nose and scolded him fiercely, making Hou Fangyu feel that he was really losing face in front of so many people.

Although Cangzhou has become a pot of porridge, because Tan Taiba is well connected, Tan Tai sent a team of soldiers to guard the courtyard where Hou Fangyu's family lives, which makes the Hou family's life still seem quite peaceful in the chaotic Cangzhou City.

But the prefect's yamen is now completely paralyzed, except for a few fellow intellectuals and general judges who are still staying at home, and the masters and officials in the palace have long since run away. However, Hou Fangyu knew that even if the government was not paralyzed, he had nothing to do now, although Tan Tai was extremely pessimistic about the war, but he was ready to live a comfortable life for a few days, and he took all the power in Cangzhou, in his opinion, it was a kind of enjoyment of life to hold power.

The reason why Old Lady Hou scolded Hou Fangyu today is very simple, because Hou Fangyu did not go to the government office to be on duty today, which means that Hou Fangyu did not go to work today.

Hou Fangyu's original ambition was quite firm, and the appearance of so many new things in Yangzhou had a very small impact on his "upward" mind, and now despite the unfavorable situation, Hou Fangyu did not lose confidence in the Manchu court. In his opinion. The court of such a corporal will not be finished so quickly.

Hou Fangyu's confidence in the Manchu court also came from his lack of confidence in the Nanjing government. He always thought that the system implemented by Luo Jian, the governor of the capital, in Yangzhou and Nanjing, was completely contrary to common sense. What makes Hou Fangyu unbearable the most is that there is no distinction between the upper and lower levels of the Yangzhou government.

No one could have imagined that what made Hou Fangyu make up his mind to leave Yangzhou to find a "bright future" was a small thing that could not be smaller.

That morning, Hou Fangyu reported to the Dadu Governor's Mansion as usual, and when he arrived at the gate of the Dadu Governor, Luo Jian's guard captain Zhao Quan made a joke with him, asking him how he felt about reuniting with Li Xiangjun yesterday.

A few days ago, Zhao Quan was just a lowly soldier, but now he dared to make such a boring joke with him, the secretary of the Grand Governor. It can be seen that Yangzhou's dignity and humility are not distinguished, and the outline is often upside down.

Under the rule of the Nanjing government, the lives of the people have improved, of course this Hou Fangyu also knows, but whether the people can eat enough or not, what does it have to do with me Hou Fangyu? What Hou Fangyu wants is glory and wealth, and a glorious lintel.

It was precisely because he couldn't get everything he wanted in Yangzhou that Hou Fangyu made up his mind, regardless of Li Xiangjun's hard persuasion, and insisted on leaving Yangzhou.

The reopening of the Manchu court gave Hou Fangyu great hope, and he felt that the opportunity had come, and with his talent, it was conceivable to get ahead in the Manchu court.

In the end, he lived up to his ten years of hard work. He was finally admitted to the coveted Jinshi, and for the first time, he directly became the parent official of a government as a Jinshi. Hou Fangyu felt that the period when he was the prefect was really the most proud time in his life, but it was a pity that the governor of Yangzhou did not give face, he thought that Cangzhou was so far away from Yangzhou, and they were going to fight over I'm afraid it would be ten or twenty years later, but I didn't expect that Cangzhou would become what it is today in just two or three years.

Hou Fangyu had already heard the news of the Wehrmacht's successive victories, but he always believed that with the determination of the Manchu court, he would one day defeat those who did not follow the program.

This concept is deeply rooted in Hou Fangyu's heart, maybe he can't get rid of the glory of the high school emperor's list, maybe he has been the eldest master for a long time, anyway, Hou Fangyu is determined to serve the Manchu court that has the grace of knowing him to the end.

But at this time and at that time, what made Hou Fangyu uneasy now, and he didn't even want to go to work was just a letter.

The letter was written by Mao Xiang, who was far away in Hangzhou, and after attending the School of Administration in Nanjing, he was appointed mayor of Hangzhou under the recommendation of Shi Kefa and Yuan Jixian.

Finally, one day, I took the opportunity to take a break and remembered Hou Fangyu, who was known as one of the "Four Princes" with several of them, and now he is still the prefect of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and is his own official master.

Mao Xiang decided to write a letter to persuade Hou Fangyu, if he could persuade the prodigal son to turn back, it would be in vain that everyone was listed as the "fourth son".

This is the origin of this epistle, and the reason is very simple.

Hou Fangyu knew the title of mayor, he had read everything that could be found in Nanjing's newspapers, of course he knew that the mayor was literally the mayor of a city, and he was the highest governor of a city, but Hou Fangyu was quite disdainful of the mayor served by Mao Xiang.

It's really boring to be the governor of such a city, and although the salary is quite large, it is announced in the newspapers. Hou Fangyu carefully analyzed the management system of Nanjing government officials, and he felt that Mao Xiang could not have anything except this salary, which was like being a prefect himself, and the little money issued by the imperial court was only enough to fight tooth sacrifices.

Mao Xiang's letter did not discuss the issue of salary with Hou Fangyu, nor did he persuade him from the perspective of national interests. The letter only told him about the tremendous changes that have taken place in Hangzhou in recent years, and also told him about the fact that the people's lives are getting better day by day. In the letter, Mao Xiang hoped that Hou Fangyu would take the initiative to return to the Nanjing government, and with his talent and experience as the secretary of the metropolitan governor, the Nanjing government would not be too difficult for him.

What Mao Xiang didn't know was that none of the words in the letter could move Hou Fangyu, and the last paragraph of the letter was the key to making Hou Fangyu uneasy.

At the end of Mao Xiang's letter, he said that the Manchu court was about to become a yellow flower, and Hou Fangyu would not only leave an infamy for future generations, but also end up with a good end.

Of course, this problem is the most serious, the Manchu court is almost gone, and the big tree that he can rely on is gone. Where is fame, fortune and glory?

This is, of course, a big problem. Hou Fangyu also knew that it was time for him to make a choice.

Hou Fangyu never thought of abandoning the dark and turning to the light as stated in the letter. He didn't think that joining the Nanjing government was running towards the bright light of life, and he was now thinking about whether to retreat bravely in the rapids or live and die with the Manchu court.

It would be nice if the Qing Dynasty could defeat the Nanjing government, and it would be okay to survive with the Nanjing government, but why did the Qing Dynasty seem to be dying? I have to help the court find a way.

Thinking of this, Hou Fangyu suddenly felt that he had a strong sense of responsibility, as if he was the savior of the Qing Dynasty.

Hou Fangyu got up in his clothes, called his subordinates to light the candles, and polished the ink. He wants to write a memo to the imperial court, and the future of the Qing Dynasty may count on his memo.

Despite sleeping late, Luo Jian still got up on time in the morning. When Luo Jian put on his clothes and arrived outside the tent, Wang Qiang and Ma Qianjun were already waiting outside the tent.

"Chief, I think Tan Tai is stealing chickens and rice again this time! Last night we sent more than 30,000 captives. Seeing Luo Jian coming out of the tent, Wang Qiang began to open suddenly.

"Didn't run away, caught them all?" Luo Jian asked with a smile, this result was completely unexpected by him.

"No, thousands of cavalry ran, it was too dark at night. They're running around, and we're few of us. The mouth was not tightly sealed, and a lot of it was run away. Wang Qiang was a little regretful, he had known that he had brought all the seven divisions with him.

"You go and ask the chief of staff for instructions, so many prisoners must be properly arranged, let them be fed, and there can be no chaos." Luo Jian explained to Ma Qianjun, and Ma Qianjun agreed to leave.

"Chief, they did it first this time, so we can't just leave it at that, right?" Wang Qiang asked while moving his body with Luo Jian.

"What do you want to do?" Luo Jian was a little funny, Wang Qiang's childishness.

"Call over, then it's polite?" Wang Qiang said without hesitation.

"Wait a few more days, so many prisoners captured last night are still troublesome, if you really want to fight, once hundreds of thousands of prisoners are caught, you can't pit them all, right?" Luo Jian said, this is really a thing, although the Nanjing government is not short of food, but to manage the rations of more than 100,000 people, just transportation will take a lot of effort.

Luo Jian did not expect to seize grain and grass from the Manchus, and according to the Qing soldiers who came over, they could now only eat two meals a day, and only one meal was dry.

"There's so much more to do, I didn't think about it that much." Wang Qiang was a little embarrassed, and habitually touched his head and said.

The sun for several days made the temperature rise quickly, the willows by the river slowly turned some green, and spring in the north came later, but it finally came.

The confrontation between the Wehrmacht and the Qing soldiers is still continuing, Luo Jian is not in a hurry, and he is not in a hurry at present, although the fleet on the canal is constantly coming and going, and has been constantly transporting grain and grass materials from the south, but there is still a big gap from the number of reserves that Luo Jian needs.

In the tent of the front-line staff headquarters, Luo Jian and Yi Bangcai were studying the upcoming combat operations with a group of staff officers, the weather had warmed up, and the rainy season was approaching, although the logistics reserves were still insufficient, Luo Jian and Yi Bangcai were not ready to spend any more time with the Qing soldiers.

A staff officer walked into the tent and handed Luo Jian a tightly sealed envelope, which was specially used by the Ministry of Security, and this letter must have been sent by the Ministry of Security.

Luo Jian tore open the envelope and saw that it was actually a fold, Luo Jian first looked at the payment behind the fold, it was Hou Fangyu, Luo Jian was a little interested.

After reading the whole recital, Luo Jian handed the recital to Yi Bangcai.

"Metropolitan Governor, this guy is too bad, if the Manchu court really does what he says, we will really have some trouble." Yi Bang quickly finished reading the recital, and said to Luo Jian with a frown.

This letter was written by Hou Fangyu to the Manchu court, but it was not sent to Beijing, but was intercepted by people from the Ministry of Security.

In this memo, Hou Fangyu gave the Manchu court a lot of prescriptions based on his own experience in Yangzhou and the practices of the Nanjing government that he kept reading in the newspapers, such as opening up sources and reducing expenditure, and opening more factories.

"Hmph, I have to say that this kid is a little talented, but can he be used to do things for the country and the people, and only think about his own glory and wealth, how can he become a pillar of the country?" Luo Jian has always had a relatively tolerant attitude towards Hou Fangyu, and now seeing that he is so worried about the Manchu court, regardless of the national righteousness, his heart is really a little angry.

"Governor, do you want to get rid of this kid?" Yi Bangcai suggested.

"That's not necessary, all the practices of our government are open, and the Manchus would have learned it a long time ago, but they can't learn it if they want to, right? Our government is for the country and the people, and their court is for its own rule. ”

Luo Jian didn't care that there was a Hou Fangyu in the Manchu court, if it was a talent, there were many in the Manchu court, like Hong Chengchou and Fan Wencheng and others, not only have strong organizational skills, but also have a long-term vision than ordinary people, these people can't save the fate of the Manchu court, what is a Hou Fangyu who can only talk on paper? (To be continued.) )