The outside world has turned the world upside down, the patrols of the French Concession are like crazy to look for clues related to the wharf bombing, after issuing a huge reward notice, the effect is not bad, some people reported that at the time of the crime, there were street sweepers and garbage cleaners saw another large group of horse-drawn carriages from the wharf direction to the public concession, looking at the size and number of the convoy is about 20 horse-drawn carriages, more than 40 people, the cleaners did not have a special idea at that time, so the information provided is only that, However, this also pointed out a direction for the investigation of the patrol house.

This clue is too vague, and it is a cross-border crime, so it is particularly troublesome to investigate, and when the legal arrest house enters the public concession and the Chinese boundary to investigate, it must also communicate with the authorities and obtain local cooperation.

After all, the time chosen by Xiao Zhenlei and others at that time was very good, there were no pedestrians on the street in the middle of the night, that is, there were no witnesses, and the route that Xiao Zhenlei and others chose to leave at that time was also very good, and the Huangpu Road to the north was even more deserted after entering the middle of the night, and even a mouse could not be seen, let alone people, the situation in the public concession was more complicated, and there were many high-rollers and Jiangyang thieves. Maybe people ran away after doing this vote, where did the patrol house go to arrest people? So this case is basically a difficult birth for the legal arrest room!

Xiao Zhenlei turned a deaf ear to the wharf explosion that was in an uproar in the outside world, and he went to Baoshan County Ya in a carriage on the morning of the second day of the incident to ask for an audience with Ge County.

For the arrival of Xiao Zhenlei. Ge Xianling couldn't talk about how enthusiastic he was, but he didn't turn it away. A family member invited him into the county office.

Seeing Ge County's order, Xiao Zhenlei bent down and saluted: "See your lord!" ”

Ge Xian Ling waved his big sleeves and said indifferently: "Xiao Xian's nephew." Excuse me, give me a seat! ”

"Thank you, sir!" After the subordinate brought the chair, Xiao Zhenlei thanked him and sat down.

After serving the tea, the two of them drank the tea with the teacup, and Ge Xianling put down the teacup and asked, "Why did Xiao Xian's nephew come to this official this time?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei put down the teacup and bowed and said: "My lord, the villain's Zhenhua company's construction site has been disrupted and damaged by those local ruffians in the past few days, and the losses are very large. This time, I want to apply to the adults to allow the villain's factory to expand the size of the escort team, and ask the county government to allow the villain to buy some firearms for the escort team for the purpose of guarding the safety of the factory. ”

Ge Xian Ling made an embarrassed look after hearing this: "Xiao Xian's nephew, what you said makes this official quite embarrassed, you also know that the revolutionary party has made too much trouble in recent years, and the imperial court has strengthened the control of foreign guns in order to rectify the revolutionary party, and local gentlemen cannot hold foreign guns without the permission of the government, so ?????? it."

Xiao Zhenlei saw Ge County's order like this. I know that this old boy wants benefits, as long as this guy is still greedy for money, things will be easy to do, I am afraid that he will not be greedy. Things are not easy to handle, and at this stage, it is not possible to turn the other cheek with the Qing court for the time being. Not to mention that there is no strength, even if it has its own armament. You can't be the first to shoot at the Qing court, and the gun will shoot the first bird!

He wasn't annoyed either. I took out a few silver tickets from my pocket and put them on the table, and said with a smile: "So, I have to ask the county magistrate to think of a way to do this, the villain thinks so, my lord, if we Zhenhua Company set up a foreign gun team, we can not only protect our own factories, prevent local ruffians and some people with bad intentions from coming to sabotage, but also serve as an armed force to share the worries of adults when the government needs it, which is good for both adults and villains!" ”

In Ge County's view, it is normal for Xiao Zhenlei to expand his factory guards, no matter who invests so much money, he definitely does not want the money to be wasted, and he must protect his industry from losses.

After glancing at the two silver tickets on the table, Ge Xian Ling leaned closer and asked in a low voice: "Nephew Xiao Xian, you tell the truth to this official, did you send someone to do Cao Gaitian?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei pretended to be startled: "My lord, I also heard about this, and when I heard the news, I also bought a cannon to put it on!" But you can wronged me, how can I do such a thing? I don't dare, that's right, yesterday morning he also took hundreds of thugs to my factory site to extort, in order not to cause trouble, I endured it at that time and gave money, but I didn't expect that his house was destroyed at night, this thing is also coincidental enough, others may think that I sent someone to do it, but I really didn't do it! ”

Ge Xianling looked at Xiao Zhenlei's expression and said so much, and hesitated: "You really didn't do it?" ”

"My lord, it's really not me!" Xiao Zhenlei denied it.

Ge County Ling did not continue to ask about this matter, and said: "Do you know about the explosion at the French Concession wharf last night? Did you do it? ”

Xiao Zhenlei was stunned, and then looked bitter: "My lord, I don't understand, why do you think about me for all the bad things?" Am I that kind of person? ”

You are, you first killed three Orientals, and then injured the Foreigner Hercules, don't think that this county doesn't know what happened between Fan Gaotou and you, you kid is a stabilizer, it's hard for me not to think about you!

Ge Xian Ling muttered in his heart, and said: "It's not you, Xiao Xian's nephew, it's not that this official wants to think so badly, as long as you settle down a little, this county will be Amitabha, this official got the news from the law arrest room, in the dock explosion last night, a large number of arms were missing from the arms warehouse at the dock, and the reason why the foreigners made such a big fuss was just that they were distressed and lost too much, not that they were worried about how much danger this batch of arms would be caused by falling outside, just now Songjiang Mansion sent a telegram order, He said that he had received an order from the Governor of Liangjiang, Lord Duanfang, asking all prefectures and counties to pay strict attention to the flow of this batch of arms, and if any clues were found, they must be traced to the end, and this batch of arms must be found, and the Liangjiang Governor's Office has sent special agents to investigate this matter, so ah. This is an extraordinary time, and you must not touch the mold on the head. Otherwise, the fruit will be unpredictable! ”

Xiao Zhenlei sighed in his heart, and said in his heart that this old boy should not be cheating on Lao Tzu, right? This is something that cannot be acknowledged even if you are killed. Hurriedly said: "I know, I know, my lord, you see that the villain's construction site can't be open like this, the villain is now like a child with gold in his pocket, if there is no force to protect it, it must be the object of robbery, please think of a way!" As he spoke, he took out two silver tickets from his pocket, put them on the table, and pushed them over.

Ge Xianling glanced at it, and his eyes and face changed slightly. After a while, he asked, "How many people do you want to expand, and how many foreign guns do you want to buy?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei saw that there was a play, and hurriedly said: "My lord, once the villain's factory is opened, there must be at least twenty or thirty thousand workers, how can the escort team have five hundred people, right?" You have to buy at least three or four hundred foreign guns! ”

"Twenty or thirty thousand workers? So much? You can't be fooling the official, right? Even the Hanyang Iron Works doesn't have that many people! Ge Xianling was surprised and skeptical.

Xiao Zhenlei said disdainfully: "My lord, how much money does Hanyang Iron Factory invest?" When it was built, it was more than 5 million taels, and only 420,000 taels were allocated initially, while the villain's factory invested 3 million taels in the early stage. A total of 20 million taels will be invested before and after, looking at the entire Qing Dynasty, which factory can compare with the villain's factory? When the factory enters the mature production period, 20,000 or 30,000 workers are still too little. With so many workers at that time, how many employment problems will have to be solved for you? Isn't that another great addition to your political achievements? So, my lord. We're in a boat! Think that if Lord Zuo Zongtang hadn't had Hu Xueyan, a rich man, raising money and food for him, he would have been able to make a lot of immortal achievements? Don't you think that you and I are today's Zuo Zongtang and Hu Xueyan? ”

When Ge County Ling heard Zuo Zongtang and Hu Xueyan. There was obviously a hint of yearning in his eyes, Zuo Zongtang could finally be described as a feudal official of the extreme people. Being an official has reached his point to the extreme, and the ending is quite good.

Ge Xianling looked at Xiao Zhenlei, and said in his heart that this kid made a shot of three million taels, and he didn't know how much silver he still had in his hand, it seemed to be a lot, but he was afraid that it would not be less than Hu Xueyan's family background.

Thinking about Xiao Zhenlei's statement about the expansion of the number of escorts and the number of guns purchased, Ge Xianling originally disagreed with so much in his heart, at least more than half of it had to be cut, but after hearing Xiao Zhenlei talk about the story of Zuo Zongtang and Hu Xueyan, he felt that in order to achieve Zuo Zongtang's feat, he must also make a bloody investment, and immediately said: "Okay, since Xiao Xian's nephew said so, then we will be like Zuo Zongtang and Hu Xueyan in the future, you get rich, and I will be promoted!" You have agreed to this matter! ”

"Thank you, sir!" Xiao Zhenlei was overjoyed, and said: "Adult, villain has one more thing!" ”

"Just say it!" Ge Xianling was in a good mood, as if he had become Zuo Zongtang's second.

"Yes, my lord, the villain wants to buy the barren mountain behind the factory and the land within a radius of four miles, first, the villain's factory is all built and a lot of stone is needed, rather than going to the local place to buy, if you don't mine the stone of the barren mountain yourself, second, the villain wants to build that area into a living area for the workers of Zhenhua Company, adults think about it, tens of thousands of people live, and it is also necessary to build a large number of houses, and also need land to build houses, of course, the villain will definitely satisfy the county in terms of price."

Ge Xian Ling thought about it, anyway, a large area around the barren mountain was uninhabited, and it was empty, and if he didn't sell it to Xiao Zhenlei, he would get some money, so he made a decision, put a few silver tickets into his sleeve and said: "Okay, this land is also the land of the government, and there are no people around, and it is not good to grow crops, and it is a waste to be empty, so the government will sell it to you, and the matter of your escort expansion and purchase of guns, this official thought about it, and it is better to give you a name, otherwise how can you have so much force as a grass citizen?" This is against the law! This official appointed you as the commander of the Yangzhen Township Yong Battalion, allowed you to recruit 500 Xiangyong to maintain local security, and allowed you to buy 500 foreign guns as Xiangyong's weapons, but you have to settle the expenses for buying foreign guns and the military salary of Xiangyong yourself, and the county government really can't come up with the money, so you can come again tomorrow to handle the relevant documents."

Xiao Zhenlei was overjoyed, got up and saluted, "Thank you, sir!" (To be continued......) R1292