"You mean to say that the warships near Jiangxia are all in Xiakou?"

In the lobby of the Jiangxia County Mansion, Xie An was stunned and asked a small official in the Jiangxia Mansion who looked honest, Zhou Shi.

Xie An, a low-level official of this rank, has seen it, but a forty-year-old official, Xie An is really rare, and what is even more surprising is that this person has been a small official in the government for twenty years, and he has treasured many things in the county.

What luck......

Thinking of what happened a moment ago, Xie An was terrified.

A moment ago, Xie An and Qin Ke'er were busy with the intimate affairs between the two, and Liang Cheng was also ready to send troops, so Xie An called a number of officials in Jiangxia Mansion to the government hall, preparing to select a few from them to serve in Jiangxia's important positions, after all, the original Jiangxia Mansion Governor had been verified by the Jinling people to secretly collude with the Taiping Army and be killed on the spot.

At that time, Xie An's idea was to select a few people to run Jiangxia Mansion and maintain the normal operation of the government, while on his side, he continued to pursue Liu Qing and sent troops to Xiakou to sink Xiakou's warships, lest Liu Qing have the opportunity to escape to the other side.

And just when Xie An chose to replace the officials of the previous prefect from the forty or so officials from the fifth rank to the seventh rank, a small official named Zhou Shi interjected in the corridor, saying that the warships near Jiangxia were all in Xiakou.

At that time, Xie An was really taken aback, after all, he thought that Jiangxia should also have a lot of warships available, so he planned to send troops to Xiakou to find an opportunity to sink all the ships in Liu Qing's hands, and he never imagined that Jiangxia was such a big county, and there were no warships. No, no, it should be said that the warships are all in Xiakou.

No wonder Liu Qing didn't come to snatch Jiangxia with him, but went directly to Xiakou......

"When did this happen?" Take out the marching map drawn by Qin Ke'er at that time and look at it. Xie An asked.

"Back to Xie Shangshu, it was probably a month ago, Lord Prefect...... Uh, no, that thief who colluded with the Taiping Army ordered all Jiangxia's warships to sail to Xiakou! Zhou Shi replied respectfully.

A month ago......

No wonder this matter was not written on the marching map, and she should not know it......

Wait, a month ago?

At that time, Liu Qing was still in Hukou and had been defeated repeatedly, and if she calculated the schedule, it was almost the time when she planned to withdraw her troops......

Expected at that time? One step ahead of schedule, transferred Jiangxia's warships to Xiakou?

Xie An rubbed his head with a little headache.

He can't be blamed for his lack of consideration. After all, Jiangxia is the largest county town in the vicinity, and it is also one of the few big cities in the south of the Yangtze River, what is Xiakou in comparison? At most, it's just a military port, not to mention Xie An, even if it is replaced by Li Xian. It is also bound to choose Jiangxia first, and then Xiakou.

It can only be said that Liu Qing's thoughts were really thoughtful, and he knew that Xie An would take Jiangxia, so he transferred all Jiangxia's warships to Xiakou in advance, in other words, this woman had thought about it at that time. Once the situation was not good, she gave up Jiangxia directly, and took advantage of the time when Xie An's army was stationed in Jiangxia, she took a boat directly to the other side of Xiakou.

"Your Excellency. In this way, Xiakou's warships will be destroyed......" Liang Cheng reminded Xie An in a low voice.

"Hmm......" Xie An nodded, after all, once Xiakou's warships were destroyed, it meant that although the Taiping army could not escape to the other side of the river. But he, Xie An, was also trapped near Jiangxia and Xiakou, although he could recruit the boats of nearby fishermen. But it took too many days, who knows how many days Li Xian can hold out?

After all, Li Xian mentioned in his letter to Xie An earlier that he would probably be able to hold out for about a month, and as for the exhaustion of grain and grass after January, he could only resign himself to fate.

What's even worse is that now that the ship is in Liu Qing's hands, if Xie An pushes too hard, she will sink all the warships in one fell swoop......

Rat-throwing bogey!

Xie An frowned and sighed, secretly made up his mind in his heart, first go to Xiakou to find out what he was talking about!

"That, your name is Zhou She, right?" Xie An raised his hand and pointed at the little official in front of him.

"Yes, Lord Shangshu!"

"Okay, from today onwards, you will be the prefect of Jiangxia!"

As soon as Xie An's words came out, the hall was in an uproar, and none of the more than forty officials in Jiangxia Mansion thought that Xie An would call a petty official who was not in the stream and was directly promoted to the local county guard of Sipin, which can be said to be a smooth progress.

"......" Zhou Shi was slightly stunned, a trace of joy flashed in his eyes, his face was quite calm, and he bowed his hand, "Yes, thank you Lord Shangshu for your love!" ”

Sure enough, he is worthy of being a small official for 20 years, and this state of mind is really rare......

Xie Anxin secretly praised, got up and said, "Then the prefect, from today onwards, strictly guard the riverbank, and must not let the Taiping thieves cross the river freely, after the mansion leaves, the whole city will be strictly prohibited, and the mansion is thinking, I am afraid that there are more than one or two Taiping troops in the county!" ”

"Yes, my lord, my villain...... Well, the lower officials must keep it in mind! ”

"Good!" Taking a deep look at Zhou She, Xie An nodded with satisfaction, picked up his crutches, and walked towards the outside of the hall with Qin Ke'er's support, but he didn't take two steps, but he heard a voice from inside the hall.

"Slow down, adult!"

"......" Xie An frowned when he heard this, and turned his head to look at the person who spoke.

It was an old man in his forties and fifties, with a slightly white beard and a rather imposing appearance.

Xie An recognized this person, this person was Yan Xuan of Jiangxia County, Xie An was questioning him at first, but Zhou Shi interjected outside the hall halfway, reminding Xie An that Jiangxia's warship had sailed to Xiakou a month ago.

"What does Lord Yan have to teach you?"

"Don't dare," arched his hand, Yan Xuan Zhengse said, "The lower official just thinks that Lord Shangshu has promoted a small official who is not in the stream to the capital of a county, and has entrusted him with important tasks, which is a bit ...... Inappropriate! "The last [inappropriate] seems to have been said by Yan Xuan after thinking about it for a long time, it is very likely that the original words are much more difficult to hear than this, just for the sake of Xie An's sake, as the secretary of the Jijing Criminal Department, and for the sake of Xie An's sake, the commander of the Great Liang Army, therefore, Yan Xuan used a more tactful word.

"What's wrong?" Xie An asked lightly.

In fact, Xie An didn't think there was anything wrong, after all, in his opinion, the first thing to ensure in the selection of local officials' character and talent at present was loyalty, as for talent. That's secondary. If the original Taiping Army's internal details were replaced by another Taiping Army's internal detail, what would this change?

Besides, Zhou She, a person who has been a minor official for 20 years, Xie An doesn't think that the Taiping Army will work such a person.

Whether this person has talent or not is secondary, what Xie An wants to ensure at the moment is that Jiang Xia is firmly controlled in his hands and in the hands of the Great Zhou Imperial Court. On the other hand, if even Zhou Shi is the inner detail of the Taiping Army, then Xie An can only admit it. can only admire the foresight of the Taiping Army.

Seeing Xie An's cold face, Yan Xuan knew that he might have made the other party unhappy by calling this Lord Shangshu rashly, but ......

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

You must know that he Yan Xuan is in his forties, and he has been in the position of Juncheng for many years. has not been able to become the governor of a county, and now, the former Jiangxia prefect has been killed on the spot by the gang in front of him on the charge of colluding with the Taiping Army, which is simply great news for Yan Xuan, after all, according to seniority and position, in addition to his deputy position as the prefect. Who else is eligible to become the prefect of Jiangxia?

However, what Yan Xuan never expected was that just because of the intervention of a small official outside the hall, Xie An, a big man from Jijing, completely lost interest in him, and actually promoted that little official to the prefect of Jiangxia......

Is it tolerable or unbearable!

Took a deep breath. Yan Xuan said in a deep voice, "Master Shangshu Mingjian! This week, he has been a small official in the government for 20 years, and he has not been able to be promoted, don't adults think that this person's talent is limited? The adults took the liberty of promoting this person from a small official to the capital of Jiangxia. If we and other officials ignore it, I am afraid it will be difficult to convince the public! ”

As soon as the words fell. The officials in the hall echoed each other.

"Your Excellency!"

"Lord Shangshu Mingjian, what Lord Yan said is extremely true!"

These guys......

Xie An frowned slightly, a little unhappy in his heart, you must know that he was in a hurry to lead his troops to Xiakou at the moment to prevent Liu Qing from fleeing to the other side by boat with the more than 30,000 Taiping troops, how could he have time to play tricks with these people?

Your Lord Xie even had a hard time to find time with Ai Ji!

Inadvertently glancing at Qin Ke'er beside him, Xie Anxin secretly scolded the guys in the hall who didn't know how to read the atmosphere.

It seemed that he noticed Xie An's eyes looking at him at that moment, and Qin Ke'er's heart was pounding.

This guy must be thinking about something rude to himself......

Qin Ke'er was frightened and sweetly thinking, and raised her head to pay attention to Xie An's face, with her understanding of him, she knew that someone was going to be unlucky.

He's a pretty domineering man......

Just as Qin Ke'er was secretly gloating, sure enough, the complexion on Xie An's face became more and more ugly, his eyes glanced at the many officials in the hall, and said in a deep voice, "It seems that your lords are very dissatisfied with the decisions made by this mansion, who are you dissatisfied?" Come, all stand up! ”

Even a fool can see the gloom on Xie An's face at this moment, how can the gang of people in the hall not see it? They glanced at each other and bowed their heads silently. Even those who had just spoken out to cheer for Yan Xuan didn't dare to speak again at this moment.

"Hmph, so it seems that you are the only one who is dissatisfied with the decision made by this mansion, Lord Yan?" Glancing back at Yan Xuan, Xie An said lightly, "This mansion remembers that Lord Yan is over forty years old, right?" is still working for state affairs like this, the government can't bear it, from today on, Lord Yan will go home to retire in addition to the county office!"

The officials in the hall secretly took a breath of cold air.

In a word, just one sentence, Yan Xuan's position as a county commander was dismissed......

This is a deputy of a county......

Everyone was shocked in their hearts, and they remembered that their original governor, the Jiangxia prefect, was killed on the spot by Xie An, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and Lord Xie in front of them.

"I ...... I...... My lord, ...... you" Yan Xuan looked at Xie An dumbfounded, he wanted to fight for the future, but he didn't expect that because of this thought, he even lost his original position.

"Thank you, sir!" Raising his tone a few times, Yan Xuan said angrily, "What does Xia Guan say is that he was also born as a Jinshi in the twelfth year of Hongwu......"

"What nonsense? This house is still the first place in the twenty-third year of Hongwu's palace test, what's wrong? Xie An said coldly.

I have to say that Xie An is indeed the first place in the 23rd year of Hongwu's palace examination, although it looks a little funny, he is obviously the first person in the palace examination, and he was even favored by the emperor Li Ji at that time, and was appointed as the Shaoqing of the Great Prison Temple, but he was not the champion of that palace examination. I don't know if the first emperor Li Ji wanted to protect him from being hated by the then crown prince Li Wei; I still learned that Xie An had cheated in the exam. Teach lessons; Or, just for a little revenge, Xie An, the little guy, actually had the courage to ask him, the Great Zhou Tianzi, on the Golden Palace, and even almost refuted him speechless.

But in any case, the most outstanding person in the twenty-third year of Hongwu's palace examination is definitely Xie An, a figure who served as the Shaoqing of the Great Prison Temple after the palace examination.

"......" Yan Xuan was speechless, he didn't know anything about it, and mistakenly thought that the first place Xie An said was the champion, and he was secretly shocked in his heart. At the same time, I finally understood why Xie An, who was young, could have such a high position.

Gritting his teeth, Yan Xuan said in a deep voice with the idea of breaking the jar. "The lower official is also a deputy of a county, and there is a record in the Beijing Division, and if you want to dismiss the lower official, you need to go through the Ministry of Officials......" However, before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Xie An.

"You're such an old fool!" Interrupting Yan Xuan's words, Xie An sneered and said, "What do you think?" Your former prefect of Jiangxia Mansion was only removed from office for secretly colluding with the Taiping Army? And you, thinking that you don't have the slightest collusion with the Taiping Army, can you speak disrespectfully to the government, rely on the old and sell the old? ――To tell you the truth, this government is here to go to Jiangnan. The Son of Heaven granted the government the authority to appoint and dismiss all foreign officials in states, counties, and counties at any time. Got it? ”

The hall was in an uproar, and Yan Xuan was even more dumbfounded. Maybe these officials in Jiangxia Mansion really think that as long as they don't collude with the Taiping Army. Xie An, a senior official from Beijing, couldn't do anything to them.

"Zhou Shi!" Xie An said in a deep voice.

"The lower official is here!" Unable to hide the shock, joy and gratitude in his heart, Zhou Shi arched his hand, after all, Xie An's move could be regarded as standing up for him, and shocking the officials in the hall who were originally far above him.

"This mansion is going to Xiakou now, the position of the county cheng, you can choose people yourself, as long as you are loyal to my Da Zhou, loyal to the Son of Heaven, even if it is a micro official, as long as you have talent, it will not be a problem!"

"Yes! Xia Guan understood! ”

"......" Glancing coldly at the frightened officials in the hall, Xie An snorted lightly and said in a deep voice, "Go!" Go to Xiakou! ”

"Yes!" The general of the Great Liang Army gloated and glanced at the officials.

Maybe it's because of this incident, Xie An's mood has not improved on the way to Xiakou.

"Is the master still angry?" On the coach's chariot, Qin Ke'er didn't know that he was a little worried about Xie An's frowning eyebrows.

"A bunch of bastards!" Xie An scolded in a low voice.

As if hearing this, Wang Huai, the general of the Great Liang Army who was riding a horse and riding in a chariot, smiled and said, "Don't be surprised, how many people in the world don't want to be promoted?" ”

Xie An nodded his understanding when he heard this, in fact, he did have the intention to promote that Yan Xuan at the beginning, but the other party really disappointed him, and he didn't even know to tell him about such an urgent matter as Jiangxia's warships had left for Xiakou, which was far less insightful than that Zhou She.

Sighing, Xie An was about to speak, but when he saw Gou Gong riding a horse beside Wang Huai, he said lightly, "Having said that, in the current situation, I don't know if we should focus on the overall situation and intrigue, that is their fault...... Knowing that the adults were worried about Xiakou's Taiping Army, they also came to distract the adults' energy......" As he spoke, he glanced at Qin Ke'er beside Xie An, intentionally or unintentionally.

I think that compared to a few days ago, Gou Gong's malice towards Qin Ke'er has decreased a lot, maybe he also saw something from Qin Ke'er's gaze at Xie An, but he is still a little troubled by Xie An's obsession with Qin Ke'er, after all, in his opinion, Xie An's current priority is how to solve the Taiping Army, not about the personal affairs of his children.

I didn't seduce him......

Qin Ke'er, who noticed that Gou Gong had the intention of scolding Huai, muttered secretly in her heart, but she was quite surprised and surprised that Gou Gong was a little less murderous and vigilant in his gaze when he looked at her.

Hey? Does that mean that he sees something?

For some reason, Qin Ke'er couldn't help but be a little panicked, as if the little secret of her increasing dependence on Xie An was seen through by Gou Gong, and she snuggled into Xie An's arms with some fear.

I don't know what she's thinking......

Obviously, there was still a lot of hatred in the eyes of the adults who looked at the adults a few days ago, why did they ...... at this time?

Gou Gong, who had been paying attention to Qin Ke'er, was really a little puzzled, after all, he did see affection from Qin Ke'er's gaze, which was also the reason why he gradually relaxed his surveillance of Qin Ke'er, although he really couldn't figure out how Qin Ke'er became like this.

However, since this woman no longer has that hatred in her eyes, Gou Gong doesn't care about how she and Xie An are, after all, he is not Mo Fei, and he will not deliberately monitor how Xie An and other women are doing in private, and go back to tell the second lady of Changsun Xiangyu.

I have to say that whenever I think of the third brother Mo Fei and the fourth brother Qian Xi, who have completely and willingly become the minions of the second lady's eldest grandson Xiangyu, Gou Gong really has a headache. Although he is also Xie An's minions and confidants, the key is that Xie An is a man and the head of the Xie Mansion, and Gou Gong's loyalty to him is nothing, and Mo Fei and Qian Xi were firmly controlled by the second lady of Xie An's mansion, Sun Xiangyu, what is this?

Gou Gong shook his head secretly, putting that helpless thought behind him, and said, "By the way, my lord, I think that Liu Qing has probably calculated that our army will go to Xiakou, I hope that woman will not flee to the other side before our army arrives in Xiakou......"

"This government is not worried about this matter, there is Mo Fei here! In contrast......" With a long sigh, Xie An said with a wry smile, "In comparison, this government hopes even more that Mo Fei has not scuttled all those warships......"

Liang Cheng, Wang Huai, Gou Gong and others glanced at each other and smiled bitterly.

After all, whether it was Xie An or them, they had thought that Jiangxia would have warships available, but who knew that Liu Qing had already sailed Jiangxia's warships to Xiakou.

If Mo Fei really scuttled Xiakou's warships, it would not only mean that the Taiping Army and the Great Liang Army would not be able to cross the river with the help of boats, but also that the two armies of the Taiping Army and the Great Liang Army would inevitably start a final fierce battle in Xiakou.

When the trapped beasts were still fighting back, the fierceness of the Taiping army, which was fighting against the water, was far from comparable to that in normal days.