As the sun set, Pang Qiang, who hurried back to Qingzhou after inspecting the Lingshan Guard, saw a small cyan sedan chair parked in front of the mansion as soon as he arrived in the capital to command the yamen. There are also four palanquin drivers sitting on the stone steps next to the door, smoking dry cigarettes and waiting.

Pang Gang called the sergeant guarding the gate and asked, "Are there any guests in our house?" ”

The sergeant replied respectfully: "My lord, it is the Wei Governor's Mansion who has come to visit, and he has been here for almost half an hour, and he is now waiting in the lobby for tea." ”

"Oh, Wei is here in the same year?" Pang Gang was slightly shocked in his heart, this old man saw himself like seeing a plague god during this time, so he was afraid to avoid it, how could he have this leisure to visit him today, could it be that there was something urgent?

Pang Gang walked to the lobby with doubts, he just entered the lobby and saw an emaciated figure sitting at a table slowly sipping tea, looking comfortable, when he heard the sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, he slowly raised his head, this person is the Qingzhou prefect Wei Tongnian.

Today's Wei Tongnian is wearing a gold-topped black veil, wearing a crimson four-grade official robe, with a lark on his chest, and his thin face is full of solemn looks.

As soon as Pang Gang entered the door, he smiled at Wei Tongnian and said, "Eh, Lord Wei, you are a rare guest, you haven't come to sit here for a long time." ”

Wei Tongtong saw Pang Gang stand up after entering the door, a smile appeared on his face, and he also arched his hand: "Huge person, this official is taking the liberty to visit today, and I hope you won't be surprised." ”

"Where, Lord Wei is polite." Pang Gang walked to Wei Tongnian and sat down, and soon a servant came up to serve fragrant tea, Pang Gang, who had been tired for a day, was already thirsty, and he didn't care if the tea was too hot when he picked up the teacup, and drank it with a clattering teacup.

After drinking the tea leaves, Pang just wiped the tea residue from the corner of his mouth, and said to Wei Tongnian with some embarrassment: "Lord Wei, what is the matter with your coming today?" ”

Wei Tongnian silently watched Pang Gang finish drinking the tea, and then said lightly: "It seems that the huge people are very busy these days?" ”

"No way." Pang Gang shook his head and said: "The defense of Qingzhou, Laizhou, and Dengzhou is all rotten, and all of them need to be redeployed. ”

Wei Tongtong looked at Pang Gang with a somewhat complicated expression, took out an envelope from his sleeve and handed it to him, Pang Gang came to see it, it turned out to be an official document sent by the governor of Zhejiang, which said that in recent times, people have continuously put a large amount of private salt into Zhejiang and other places, resulting in a sharp drop in the price of salt in Hangzhou and other places, the interests of salt merchants have been damaged, and the salt tax of the imperial court has fallen sharply, and the governor of Hangzhou Yamen has found out that these private salt is flowing from the Qingzhou Mansion, and asked the Qingzhou Mansion to strictly investigate the matter, otherwise they will report to the imperial court and ask the imperial court to severely punish Yunyun

After reading the ten lines at a glance, Pang Gang smiled contemptuously and put the envelope on the table, and said with a somewhat playful smile: "These people, knowing that those private salts are being held by the official, but they sent the official document to you, and he really gave the official face." ”

Unexpectedly, Wei Tongnian, who bluntly admitted that he was selling illicit salt, was stunned, glanced at Pang Gang with a somewhat complicated expression, and said softly: "Huge people, they are saving face for you!" You'd better let it go as soon as possible, if you annoy those salt merchants, they will really stab the emperor in this matter, and then it will be troublesome. ”

Pang Gang didn't answer and asked: "Lord Wei, if this official stops transporting illicit salt to Zhejiang, do you think those salt merchants will stop there?" ”

Wei Tongnian hesitated for a moment before saying, "The huge person is a general of Dingyuan, and he is in a high position, if you stop here, I believe they will not have too much." ”

"Hehe" Pang Gang smiled disdainfully: "It is simply impossible to expect those salt merchants who see the money to keep their word, they are just delaying the army, do you dare to bet with me, as long as this period of time is delayed, the impeachment of the official will fly to the emperor's desk like snowflakes." The reason why this official letter is sent now is just to fight with us and distract us, and its real purpose is to want the salt field of this official. ”

Wei Tongnian asked quietly: "So, is it true that the rumors that the adults opened a salt factory to refine refined salt without permission?" ”

Pang Gang just smiled slightly and didn't say anything, with a look of you knowing. Pang Gang also knew that he could not keep it secret for a long time, after all, Qingzhou, a place that originally relied on importing refined salt from other places, suddenly poured out a large amount of refined salt, and even exported it to neighboring provinces. However, what Pang Gang didn't expect was that those salt merchants were so powerful that they could exert pressure on him through the governor of Zhejiang.

Seeing Dao Pang Gang's calm expression, Wei Tongnian seemed to understand his thoughts, and said in a tone of lesson: "This official knows that you will inevitably be complacent when you suddenly ascend to a high position, but it is good to spend a hundred times and say that a celebrity is not a thousand people, especially in the officialdom. ”

Listening to Wei Tongnian's gushing words, Pang Gang couldn't help but feel a little depressed, he used to be just a five-grade thousand households, but now he is a general of the imperial court Sanpin Dingyuan, a general of the three states of the town guarding the East Road, and he was even trained by this old man with a lower grade than himself, is there any reason in this world.

Not to mention the depression in Pang Gang's heart, and to say that Wei Tongnian was not just an evil fire from somewhere, a burst of endless lessons trained Pang Gang to be stunned, and he was not allowed to refute it at all, and he stopped after talking for two moments.

When Wei Tongnian stopped to take a sip of tea to moisten his throat, he realized that it was really inappropriate for him to reprimand a third-grade official in this way as a fourth-grade official, and if he changed to an official with a slightly worse temper, he would definitely turn against him.

Wei Tongnian also knew that his behavior was inappropriate, but he just couldn't suppress the evil fire in his heart, this Pang Gang was already a married man, but he was still eye-to-eye with his baby daughter, where did he want to control his daughter? And these days he has gradually received some news, saying that Qingzhou has commanded the yamen to sell illicit salt, which has aroused serious concern in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and his precious daughter has asked him to remind Pang Gang to be more careful, those salt merchants are all a group of powerful people, this time Pang Gang has violated their interests, they will definitely not give up.

Wei Tongnian didn't want to get involved in these things, but he couldn't stand Wei Manyao's whispering in his ear every day, no, today he came to the capital to command the yamen in the name of delivering a letter to knock on this daring guy. But after seeing the main master, Wei Tongnian, who originally wanted to persuade him with good words, finally couldn't hold back the nameless evil fire in his heart, and immediately reprimanded Pang Gang.

As for why Wei Tongnian would talk to him in such a tone, Pang Gang actually knew it, and said in his heart: "Isn't it just that I have met your daughter a few times?" I haven't even pulled your daughter's little hand, what are you angry at me, if it weren't for your good intentions, my brother would have turned his face a long time ago. ”

After thinking about it, Pang Gang still said kindly: "Lord Wei, your kindness is appreciated by the official, but you also know that the official needs silver everywhere here, if you don't sell illicit salt, where does the silver come from?" And how to buy the sergeant's salary, weapons, armor, and farm tools? Zhejiang's side keeps saying that the official sells illicit salt and harms the country's salt tax, but the salt tax handed over to the imperial court by several coastal provinces the year before last is only a few thousand taels of silver, and this amount of silver is probably not enough for them to spend on a Qing man to open buds, right? This kind of talk is almost the same to deceive children, in fact, what Qingzhou's refined salt has lost after it is sold is only the interests of those salt merchants, and now it is even in the name of the governor of Hangzhou to pressure me, hehe, since this is the case, let the horse come, see if the official is afraid of them! ”

Hearing Pang Gang's resolute tone, Wei Tongnian couldn't help but have a headache, he knew very well that the master in front of him was very harmless to humans and animals, but he was a good stubble, he really wanted to annoy him, he definitely did something shocking.

Just when Wei Tongnian didn't know how to convince this stunned young man, Pang Gang threw out a bigger bomb, "Lord Wei, I plan to send troops to North Korea in a few days to rescue the Li Dynasty in North Korea." ”

"What?" Wei Tongnian was shocked by this news, his mouth opened wide and he couldn't speak.

"Do you know that without the military department's writing and holy decree, it is a big crime to kill your head to transfer troops privately!" At this time, Wei Tongnian was so frightened that he could barely speak.

"Yes!" Pang Gang's face was full of indifference: "But as long as we don't say it, who will know?" ”

Wei Tongtong only wished that he was so cheap today, and he actually came to listen to this guy say such nonsense, and said that if the East Window incident happened, he would have to bear the responsibility.

"Don't worry, only you know today's words, and there will be no third person who knows, some time ago, the special envoys of North Korea came to the palace to ask for help, and now they are forced to Kyoto by 50,000 Qing soldiers, if we don't send troops to rescue the Ming Dynasty, North Korea will completely surrender to the Manchus.

"These great truths are clearer than you, but if the court blames them, they won't listen to your explanation." Wei Tongnian was furious, this Pang Gang was also bold in doing things, and he made his own decisions about such a big thing as sending troops to North Korea, and it was not too much to cut off his head nine times on this basis.

"They will, I promise." Pang Gang smiled slightly on the side, a faint smile flashed in his eyes, and he didn't forget to add a sentence in his heart, "If they don't understand, I will make them understand in other ways." ”

(To be continued)