Shaoxing Shanyin, on a stone alley on the right side of Tinglan Bridge, there is a vermilion gate between the shade and green willows, and the gate reads: Chen Mansion.

The paint was faintly visible between the gates, and a crack had been cut on the face of one of the two stone lions on the side of the door, which looked even more hideous.

When you enter the front yard, you can find that the beams and pillars are carved with exquisite patterns, and although many of the paint has fallen off, you can still feel the delicacy that is unique to Jiangnan.

After the front yard, through the corridor, the eye is a large lotus leaf, between the lotus leaves is a little pink, occasionally flying butterflies shuttle among them, the other side of the pool is a few green willows, under the green willows are a few rows of stone benches.

Walk through the front yard, past the wing room on the left, and then turn through two holes, and you can see a small but delicate two-story building.

At this time, there were several whispers from Xiaolou.

"Girl, I heard from people outside that my uncle brought a lot of people to fight!" A maid with a ringed bun said with a look of surprise on her face: "It's so messy outside, why does my uncle want to go to war?" ”

This is, there was a soft 'oh' sound opposite her, and then look closely, there was a woman wearing a long skirt with light purple and red trim sitting in front of the maid who had just spoken, only to see her head slightly lowered, unable to see her eyes clearly, unable to see her face, both hands are holding an embroidery needle and a pair of unfinished embroidery, looking at the pattern seems to be a mandarin duck playing in the water.

After a sigh, the woman raised her head, only to see a pair of bright eyes on her slightly emaciated face, and the two eyebrows on the eyes were slightly wrinkled, as if she wanted to say something, but soon she heard her soft 'ah', and she quickly lowered her head again, only to see that the soft middle finger had oozed a little red stain.

In another courtyard in the backyard, there was also a whispered conversation, and a noble lady wearing red silk showed a worried expression: "Then why did Lin Zhe suddenly think of holding a group to practice and go to war?" ”

A middle-aged man in a brocade robe next to him said: "Sister, don't worry, although the young master of the Lin family is young, he has been in charge of the family business in recent years, I heard that he also sent someone to buy a machine qì plans to set up a silk reeling factory in Shanghai, and Mrs. Lin is also not a simple person, since she also supports Lin Zhe to run a group practice, she must have her reasons!" ”

When the brocade-robed man said this, his face showed a hint of envy, that man did not have the dream of making meritorious contributions, although he Bi Yutong was already old, but when he thought of fighting on the battlefield with a sword, a stream of blood would emerge in his heart.

Two months ago, I heard my sister's aunt say that when he held a group exercise in Yuyao, he didn't think there was anything, because since the rebellion in Guangdong, there are no longer a few gentry in the southern provinces who have run group exercises, and even he himself has responded to the call to pull up his own strong men and small households to start a village fight, but the group exercises conducted by these gentry are all petty fights, and they will not say that there is any official letter of appointment from the local government, let alone leave their hometown and run to the front line to fight against the Taiping army.

However, when he heard that Lin Zhe's regimental training was actually supported by the official governor of Zhejiang, and had the official name of 'Yuyao County Yongying', and Lin Zhe was officially sent by 'supervising Yuyao County Yongying' after donating the official, he was quite surprised.

And when he heard that Lin Zhe was about to take this Yuyao County Yongying to the north to fight against the Taiping Army, he felt even more shocked in his heart.

You must know that although there are a lot of various regimental exercises in these years, there are only a handful of regimental exercises that will leave their hometown and go to the front line to fight the Taiping Army.

Unlike his sister Mrs. Chen, who was worried and did not understand, he supported and understood, as a typical gentry and scholar class of this era, he and most of the landlords, gentry and scholars did not have a good impression of the Taiping Army, if he had the ability and opportunity, he would not hesitate to pull up a large army into the wave of exterminating the rebellion in Guangdong.

So he agrees with and supports Lin Zhe's move!

"According to their itinerary, it is estimated that Lin Zhe will take someone to Shaoxing tomorrow, and I will go to see him then!" Bi Yutong said.

"Well, it's inconvenient for us women, and Lin'er and Han'er are not here, so I have to trouble you about this!" Mrs. Chen also sighed as she spoke.

Her daughter's marriage has become a piece of her heart, she should have married Lin Zhe a long time ago, but the world has made people, this has dragged on for more than five years, and her own daughters have become twenty-year-old girls, and she will be able to get married next year, but Lin Zhe said that she will run a group to practice fighting, in case Lin Zhe has something to do in front of her, then she must not let her daughter stay a widow for a lifetime!

But although she is worried, she is still quite satisfied with Lin Zhe's marriage, although the Lin family is not a scholarly family, engaged in business, but in the early years, there were also a few talents, some scholars have a foundation, and the Lin family's many heads of family will generally donate an official body, so it is not too bad in terms of social status, of course, the more important thing is: the Lin family is rich!

She doesn't know if the Lin family is the richest man in Shaoxing, but it is definitely the richest man in Yuyao, the Lin family has been entrenched in Yuyao for more than 200 years, and has been engaged in raw silk and other businesses for more than 200 years.

What is also very important is that the Lin family now only has Lin Zhe as a lone seedling, and there are no messy uncles and aunts, and at the same time, Mrs. Lin is also a talkative and sensible person, and her daughter will not only have a worry-free life after marrying, but also will not face all kinds of messy battles in the mansion.

Therefore, although the Chen family is said to be a scholarly family, people are frequently raised, and Xiucai is even more grasped, but the Lin family has never raised people, but Mrs. Chen is still more satisfied with this marriage.

After Bi Yutong said goodbye to Mrs. Chen, he was about to leave, but was stopped by a maid, who was the maid next to Chen Jing, the daughter of the Chen family, and saw her take out a letter and hand it to Bi Yutong: "The girl said that I would like to ask my uncle to transfer this letter to my uncle!" ”

Bi Yutong didn't say much, just took the letter and nodded, indicating that he knew.

The next day, outside the city of Shanyin, Shaoxing, Lin Zhe looked at the letter in his hand and frowned, and Wang Luyun on the side showed anger: "These things that don't have long eyes dare not let us enter the city, and they annoy me to take people directly into the city to see what they can do!" ”

Lin Anfei next to him said: "They didn't let us enter the city, it was just because they were afraid that we would be plundered!" But fortunately, although we were not allowed to enter the city, a lot of chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, rice and noodles were sent, as well as silver was also sent! ”

Wang Luyun said again: "Hmph, do they dare not give it?" ”

Wang Luyun's words are good, let the Shaoxing Mansion supply the army's military supplies and pay the silver, it is the order of Huang Zonghan, the governor of Zhejiang, who personally gave the order, and the Shaoxing Mansion did not dare to disobey, and if they really did not obey, then don't blame Lin Zhe for being polite, and then he would directly lead people into the city to take it for himself.

At this time, Lin Zhe spoke: "Since you can't enter the city, then send an order to go down and camp outside the city, and prepare to bury the pot and make rice!" Tomorrow, go straight around the city and go north! ”

Whether he can enter the Shaoxing Mansion City or not, it doesn't matter much for Lin Zhe, anyway, Shaoxing is just passing by, as long as the Shaoxing Mansion has prepared all the military supplies, he Lin Zhe doesn't have to enter the city, and the army will spend the night outside.

As Lin Zhe's order was handed down, the hundreds of people just started moving, a small part of them surveyed around, while the other soldiers began to set up the camp under the command of the officers.

However, in the evening, Lin Zhe ushered in a guest, and he was Bi Yutong.

For Bi Yutong, Lin Zhe only has it in the memory of the original body, but he has not seen it for a few months in this era, in the memory of the original body, Bi Yutong is the uncle of his fiancée, he is a traditional scholar, and he has a reputation for showing talent, but after more than 20 years of exams, he did not pass the exam, and he gave up and ran the family business at home.

This time he came to find himself, I'm afraid it's because of the Chen family!

Lin Zhe guessed correctly, but he didn't guess completely right, after Bi Yutong came in, he first gave Lin Zhe a letter from his niece Chen Jing, and then chatted about other things, nothing more than the recent situation, and as he spoke, Bi Yutong said:

"I see that although your battalion is small, the soldiers are strong and well-trained, much stronger than those green battalions and flag soldiers!"

Lin Zhe smiled when he heard this, and said in his heart, I subsidize the food expenses for these soldiers every month, not only to be full, but also to eat meat often, with nutritional supplements and high-intensity physical training, if this soldier's physical quality is not outstanding, then he has to wonder where these soldiers are eating.

The physical condition of the soldiers under his command is good, and it can be regarded as one of the rare advantages of the Yongying in Yuyao County now.

Of course, he was still modest: "There, there!" ”

Bi Yutong said again at this time: "But I still seem to be missing a few documents in your camp!" He said as he pointed to the stack of papers on the desk.

Lin Zhe was still stunned when he first heard it, but he quickly reacted, this Bi Yutong came here today, I'm afraid it's not just because of the visit between relatives, I'm afraid he also has other thoughts, such as wanting to get an official position from himself.

No, it's an official body.

Although the Yongying Battalion in Yuyao County is said to be officially recognized as a regimental training, it is not a registered economic unit of the imperial court, but a militia unit that has been temporarily gathered.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, including Lin Zhe's title of 'supervising the Yongying of Yuyao County' is not an official position, but a temporary dispatch, this dispatch is not of a designated grade, and Lin Zhe's official body is still a fourth-grade Taoist bought.

Now Lin Zhe's official position is more complicated, and the specific position is 'Zheng Sipin, alternate Taoist in Zhejiang Province, supervising the Yongying in Yuyao County', the above three are grades, officials, and dispatches. They are all independent of each other and have no direct connection.

It can't be said that the alternate Taoist must be the fourth grade, because there are still many special circumstances, and there are also third-grade Taoists and second-grade Taoists.

And the other people in the Yongying Camp in Yuyao County, including the six company commanders, the supervision officer, the battalion officer, and the three general offices, also did not have officially matched official positions, and the official positions they received were all the official positions that Lin Zhe gave them to promote.

For example, he gave six company commanders seven grades of military foreign officials, which is what the world often calls 'general officers'.

The supervisor and battalion officer are promoted by the civilian and foreign officials, and the official title is 'Alternate Governor of Zhejiang Province'.

These titles are actually not worth much, even if you donate, it won't cost much, do you think, donating a Taoist of the fourth grade is only more than 9,000 taels of silver, and donating a seven-grade title can cost a few dollars?

It's just that although the Qing Dynasty is not worth much, it is rare to see a real shortage, especially for civil officials.

Bi Yutong thought that if he could mix a real lack of official body in Lin Zhe's regimental training camp, then it could be regarded as fulfilling his dream of becoming an official in this life.

Bi Yutong is a typical scholar in this era, as early as in his twenties, he had been admitted to Xiucai, but he failed to be admitted to the examination for more than 20 years, so he could only teach his two sons while running a family business in the township, trying to make those two sons surpass themselves in the industry.

However, although he is old, it does not mean that he has no ambition for the future, but the imperial examination is hopeless, and if he donates to the official, his Bi family is a typical scholarly family that cultivates and reads heirlooms, although there are many fields in the family, but it is absolutely impossible to say that he has taken out thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver to donate to the official, and it is even more impossible to spend several times the money of the official donation after donating the official to the actual lack of activities.

In the late Qing Dynasty, official donations were prevalent, but ordinary gentry did not say that they could afford to donate, and a few thousand taels of silver was nothing to the rich family of the Lin family, but it was a huge amount of money that could not be taken out at all for ordinary gentry families.

But with his fame as an old showman, there is no other way to enter the officialdom in the way of guò donation, so when he heard that the regimental training run by Lin Zhe had an official establishment and could be obtained after the official rank, he was moved.

He is naturally not good at fighting, and he has no interest in being a martial artist, but he is very interested in those civilian jobs under Lin Zhe.