Since it is a chartered car, while the price is expensive, it is natural to take into account performance and comfort, and the four-wheeled carriage of the local tyrant Li Hezhang is a model of this type of carriage.

Li Hezhang's four-wheeled carriage has bearings and shock-absorbing springs, and it is a four-horse carriage, so the speed is quite fast, if you don't care about comfort, regardless of horsepower, go full speed, probably less than three hours to reach Qingpu County.

The people in the car are all young people in their thirties, and they naturally like speed, so this kind of carriage is moving at full speed, and when it finally arrives at the Li Manor in Qingpu County, it is only nine o'clock in the morning, and it only takes two and a half hours to walk.

However, the speed was fast, but when Li Hezhang, Rong Hong and Huang Kuan got off the carriage, their clothes were slightly untidy, their feet began to flutter, and they almost didn't stand firm. Fortunately, everyone is still young and adaptable, and they quickly regained the feeling of stepping on the ground.

After settling down, I fixed my eyes and saw that there were a lot of people gathered at the gate of Li's Manor, although I didn't dare to say that there were crowds, but it was almost the same, basically only a small road in the middle could pass people, as for both sides, there were either all kinds of carriages parked, or various sedan chairs were placed, in addition to many people selling snacks, it looked like they were visiting a temple fair.

Before Rong Hong and the others could finish reading, they suddenly saw an old man with a red armband on his arm and a cloth satchel in his hand running upside down, and asked loudly when he opened his mouth: "What are you doing?" What for? Do you know what this place is? Get out of the way! You know what's blocking the traffic? ”

"Oh, this old man." Rong Hong hurriedly clenched his fists, "We are here to participate in the autumn harvest celebration of the Li Manor. ”

"Attending the Autumn Harvest Celebration?" The old man looked Rong Hong up and down, and his tone slowed down slightly, "Is there an invitation?" ”

"There are no invitations." Rong Hong shook his head, "But I have a brand." ”

After speaking, Rong Hong hurriedly took out a palm-sized wooden plaque from his arms and handed it to the old man with a red armband with a suspicious face.

This wooden plaque is actually an official plaque. It records your official name and position and the scope of responsibility, similar to a business card, so that others can know what you do.

In fact, the earliest source of this kind of official card is the military card from the Jingwu Army. In order to facilitate management, a small wooden tag was prepared for each officer and soldier, on which his name, position, time of joining the army and the unit to which he belonged, similar to the army tag in later generations. With this, even if everyone wears the same clothes. But as long as the military card is lit, you can immediately know who is playing and who is small, and who should be listened to, and the reason why the later reform of the military rank system can be so easy to promote is that the role of this military card is also indispensable.

Later, Li Yongji tried to run the military government in Wuxi, and in order to empty the government of the Qing court and let the people know the identity and scope of responsibility of the military government office personnel, he deliberately formulated a number of palm-sized wooden tags. Issued as a waist badge to the clerks of the military government, this is the so-called official badge.

The official badge is larger than the military badge, and it says the name, position, and scope of work of the office staff, and when the time comes, the people of the military government go out to do things. As long as you show the sign, everyone will know that you are a member of the military government, a person covered by the elite army, and you can also know what you are responsible for.

And then later. After the Qing court turned against Li Yongji, all parts of Jiangnan changed banners one after another, although local autonomy was established due to Li Yongji's letting go. However, the official card system has been inherited, that is, all those who are officials in the new government must formulate a deck of official cards in accordance with the regulations, and hang it on their waists if they have nothing to do, so as to tell everyone that I am an official of the new government.

However, although this kind of official card is easy to make, but the act of counterfeiting is very strict, once you do not have an official position but create a fake official card, if it is found, you will be punished with a bankrupt family and sit in prison for ten or eight years, and the death penalty will be executed, and it will also be carried out. That is to say, not only the licensee itself will be heavily punished, but also the person who makes the brand will be punished, and even the family members will be unlucky, so except for those who are particularly bold, few people dare to make fake official cards and impersonate officials.

Of course, since Rong Hong is the Minister of Science and Education personally approved by Li Yongji, although it is not very formal, it can be regarded as an official, so with the help of Wang Tao, an official fan, he made a deck of official cards for him early.

Despite this, Rong Hong is relatively humble, since he has this, he doesn't take it out, even if he can't hire a carriage before, he doesn't take it out to bluff people. Because he felt that he was still a bare minister, there was no one under him, and the yamen had not yet been built, so he was embarrassed to take out this thing at every turn, but in this case, he had to take it.

"Yo, there really is, this is an official card." As soon as the old man saw the sign, his expression immediately changed, and he took it and took a closer look, "Minister of Science and Education of the Jiangnan Military Government, Minister of Science and Education Rong Hong?" Yes? And the golden plum blossom? You, are you an official appointed by the handsome? ”

The reason why this old man was so moved was not because he knew what the Minister of Science and Education was, but because there was a golden plum blossom made of gold on the sign.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the concept of class was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, even after the change of banners in Jiangnan, everyone became officials of the new government, but the idea of ranking ranks remained unchanged.

The army has military ranks and ranks, and the promotion system is already relatively sound, but the issue of official positions and ranks in civil affairs, because Li Yongji has not come up with a charter and has not started to discuss it, has always been confused, but everyone is also very smart, very good at making changes, and knows how to improve their status.

To put it simply, it is to add something to the ordinary official card, that is, to add a metal zuò plum blossom, and to use the guò plum blossom to indicate your status.

At present, there are four grades of gold, silver, copper and iron, like iron plum blossoms, which generally refer to the level of the county police chief and the county tax director;

Copper plum blossoms, generally refers to the level of county magistrate and deputy county magistrate, and the chief of the municipal police department will also use copper plum blossoms;

Yinmei Blossom is usually a senior bureaucrat at the level of the mayor, and some special personnel of the Jiangnan State Administration for Industry and Commerce will also add Yinmei Blossom if needed.

The golden plum blossom is different, this must be a relative of the handsome Li Yongji, or a hand-picked official can be added, such as Li Yongji's brother Li Yongchang, and Li Yongji's father Li Zhengxiang, their official cards are just added to a golden plum blossom.

Actually, even if there is no metal plum mark, wooden sign. Or the official card will also clearly indicate your position and scope of responsibility, but because the official card is the same, do not look carefully at the introduction, it is difficult to see the difference in rank from the surface alone, so this metal plum blossom is specially added.

This is done so that when you hang the official badge on your waist, others will be able to see your identity through the metal mark of the guò official badge, and then you can salute each other according to their status in advance.

Therefore, plum blossoms of different materials represent your grade. If you calculate carefully, the iron plum blossom is probably at the township level, the copper plum blossom is at the county level, the silver plum blossom is at the prefectural and municipal level, and the golden plum blossom should be the central or provincial level in the south of the Yangtze River.

This system of adding metal marks was still thought up by Li Yongji's brother, although it was very simple, but once it was introduced, it immediately swept the Jiangnan officialdom. After all, the size is also a grade proof, so everyone now looks at the sign first, and then looks at the content.

"It turned out to be Lord Rong." Seeing clearly that the official card was indeed inlaid with golden plum blossoms, the old man with red armbands returned the wooden card to Rong Hong with his smiling hands. "Hey, my lord, if you take out the sign earlier, how much trouble you can saved."

"Shall we go in then?" Rong Hong smiled.

"Of course. Of course. The old man looked at Rong Hong and the two people behind him, "These two are yours?" ”

"They're my friends." Rong Hong said.

"Is there an official card? Or an invitation? The old man asked softly.

"Nope." Rong Hong shook his head.

"In that case, you can only be your attaché." The boss also said. "There are no invitations or official military cards here, you can't go in, they don't have them, if you want to enter, you can only be your subordinate attaché. According to the regulations, the next person can only bring one, but you are an official of the Golden Plum Blossom, you can bring two. ”

"When my attaché goes in, is it any different from me?" Rong Hong asked again.

"If you want to go in, it doesn't make much difference, you can go in and watch the ceremony." The old man with the red armband said, "However, you are an official, you can enter the subjective stage, they are subordinates, so you can't go to the viewing platform, this is the difference." ”

"It's fine." Before Rong Hong could speak, Huang Kuan spoke first, "We don't care about this, let's just come and see the excitement, it's okay not to go to the viewing platform." ”

"yes." Although Li Hezhang was a little unhappy in his heart, he didn't care on the surface, "It's good to be able to go in." ”

"Okay." Rong Hong nodded and said to the old man with the red armband, "Then please take us there." ”

"Okay, no problem." The old man with the red armband nodded, and then pulled out a long bamboo stick, which was marked with the same red Arabic numerals at both ends, and then the old man broke the bamboo stick in two.

"Your Excellency, take it." The old man with the red armband handed half of the bamboo sticks to Rong Hong, "This is your parking number, and the other half will be handed over to your driver." According to the regulations, all carriages and sedan chairs that come here must stop at the designated place so as not to obstruct traffic. So, when you get in, we're responsible for getting your driver to find a place to park, and we'll arrange for the driver, and when you come out, just take this tag and tell the doorman or a security assistant like me, and we'll be responsible for calling your carriage over. So, don't lose it, or it will be very troublesome. ”

"Oh." Rong Hong nodded, looked at the 9527 on the label, and then carefully put the label away, and then walked forward under the guidance of the old man with the red armband.

There was a red armband old man to open the way, and sure enough, all the vendors did not dare to approach, and everyone soon came to the gate of the manor and saw a row of soldiers standing guard with guns.

Before entering, the old man with the red armband first went up and said to a soldier with a revolver and white gloves and a red hat, and then Rong Hong took out the official badge again and gave it to the red hat soldier, and after the other party looked at it carefully and asked a lot of questions, he asked them to sign and draw on the registration book one by one, and then let them in.

Before the three of them could rejoice in entering the gate, they suddenly saw a soldier wearing a red hat coming and asking them to follow him.

"Where are you going?" Rong Hong wondered, "Why don't you take the avenue?" ”

"Your Excellency is too worried." The red hat was very polite, turned around and saluted with fists first, and then said with a smile, "That's the case, our Zhuangzi covers an area of more than 2,000 acres, of which there are 1,000 acres of experimental fields. It's not impossible, but it will definitely delay the adult's time. Therefore, we have specially prepared a horse-drawn carriage for adults, and you can take the carriage to the viewing platform.

Hehe, frankly speaking, you are a little late, and it is estimated that the opening ceremony will not be seen, but it is estimated that the rice harvesting activities will be able to catch up, that is, you can go to the field to harvest rice in person, which is still very good.

After the paddy harvesting event. We also have a series of celebrations here, such as you can go to the hot springs, wash off your tiredness, you can also go directly to the buffet, eat something first, you can also go to see a theatrical performance, what acrobatic Kunqu opera has, not to mention anything else, the most famous six Hui classes in Jiangnan are here. So. Adults can not only get a great enjoyment here later, but also get to know a few more people at the meeting, which is also very beneficial. ”

By the time he had said that, the red hat had already led the three of them to an open-top four-wheeled carriage. There was already a driver with a pistol on his waist, and when he saw this, the red hat who had been in charge of guiding him smiled again and said, "This lord, this is your sightseeing carriage." You'll ride this carriage to the viewing platform for the Autumn Harvest Celebrations. Well, what's the problem. You can ask the driver, okay, I'll send it here, I wish you all a nice time. ”

After speaking, the red hat saluted Rong Hong, and then stood still, seemingly respecting Rong Hong, no, it should be said that he was quite respectful to his brand.

In this way, Rong Hong and the others got into the open-top four-wheeled carriage drawn by these two or four tall horses under the attention of the red hat soldier, and after the car started, Rong Hong looked back and found that the red hat soldier was still saluting.

asked the coachman, and the coachman said that this is because Rong Hong's official plate is a golden plum blossom, and it is because of the hand-picked officials of the marshal, and people with this kind of official card enjoy the highest treatment, that is, they are allowed to put down their hands and go back only when they see the carriage to the naked eye.

In addition, this kind of open-top four-wheeled carriage drawn by four oceanic horses is not something that everyone can ride, and he has not pulled a few people in total, and most of the other officials take two-wheeled carriages, and it would be good to have two horses, and even many people have to walk on their own.

When he heard this, Rong Hong didn't feel anything, Huang Kuan was just smacking his tongue, and Li Hezhang licked his lips, and an inexplicable light flashed in his eyes.

The carriage quickly made a turn, and at this point you could see the entire golden rice fields on both sides of the road, which were as neat as tofu blocks, and looked pleasing to the eye.

"This is the test field of the handsome, right?" Rong Hong exclaimed, "It looks good." ”

"Not really." The coachman said with a smile, "This is the test field of the big handsome, this year, the wind and rain are good under the rule of the big handsome, and the rice is naturally rising." ”

"Hey, this rice seems to grow taller than ordinary rice." Li Hezhang suddenly said, "How can ordinary rice be so high? Moreover, this ear of rice is also a little different, it seems to be a little bigger. ”

"This gentleman is a connoisseur." When the coachman heard this, he glanced back at Li Hezhang, and then continued, "This is the high-yield rice that Dashuai tried to plant, which is taller than ordinary rice, the ears of rice are also large, and the natural yield is also high. Hehe, I don't know exactly how much, but just looking at it like this, it must be at least one or two times higher than the yield of ordinary rice. ”

"A double or two?" Li Hezhang frowned, then shook his head again and stopped talking.

Everyone chatted happily while looking at the scenery of the rice fields on both sides, and it didn't take long to see that many people were harvesting rice fields in the rice fields.

"It was a rice harvesting event." The coachman replied, "It seems that the rice harvest has begun, and if you want to participate, you must hurry." Do you want me to speed it up? Or continue to look at the scenery like this? ”

"Let's speed it up." Rong Hong said, "I've seen the scenery for so long, and I've seen enough." ”

"Okay!" Hearing that he could hurry up, the coachman excitedly raised his whip and snapped, "Sit down, let's come!" Drive~! ”

With the sound of the driver's driving, Rong Hong could feel the obvious movement of the car, and a feeling of back thrust suddenly appeared, although it disappeared quickly, but the previous bumpy feeling came again.

Thinking of the previous experience of riding in the four-wheeled carriage chartered by Li Hezhang, Rong Hong's face immediately turned green.

Fortunately, although the speed of the carriage has increased a lot, the bumpy feeling is much better than the previous four-wheeled carriage, mainly because the roads here are better, they are all cement roads, the wheels are pneumatic rubber tires, and the shock absorption is also better, plus the spring sofa, it is taken together. This kind of open-top four-wheeled carriage is not at the same grade as that kind of private passenger carriage at all.

Running all the way, the carriage soon came to a stop at a high platform made of masonry and concrete, with many buildings on it, which is called a viewing platform.

"This is the viewing platform of the Lee Manor." The coachman pointed to the stairs on the high platform, "The whole viewing platform is 20 meters high, with an area of 1,000 square meters, and there is a rest room and a viewing roof, so you can see the surrounding rice fields, and the scenery is quite good."

But to go up, you have to take the stairs. Of course, if you are tired and can't walk, you can also hire a sedan chair to slide the pole, of course, you don't have to spend money. ”

"Oh." Rong Hong looked up, "Do you have to go to the viewing platform to participate in that rice harvesting ceremony?" ”

"That's not necessary, it's mainly a scenic spot, and the other is to watch the opening ceremony, or to have a rally in three days. Now the opening ceremony has long passed. The rally hasn't started yet, so now you can only go up to see the view. The coachman shook his head and pointed to a nearby booth where four people were sitting side by side, "See." If you don't like to go to the trouble of going up to see the scenery, you can go there and register it, then go to the back dressing room to change your clothes, and then get a sickle. You can harvest the paddy at the designated place. When you cut the rice, just throw it on the ground, and naturally someone will collect it, and of course you can collect the ears of rice yourself. However, it must be sent to a designated place afterwards to facilitate the statistics of production. ”

"Oh, that's it." Rong Hong nodded, indicating understanding.

"Also, if you're tired of playing and want to rest, look over there." The coachman pointed to another complex again, "There is a VIP building, adults can go to ask for a room with your official card, or go directly to the hot spring bathhouse to take a bath, there are hot springs, the facilities are first-class, you will definitely be worth the trip, of course, the next person can not go, the next person can only go to other places." ”

Speaking of this, the coachman looked at Huang Kuan and Li Hezhang, and then continued to say to Rong Hong: "After taking a bath, you can go to the room to rest, or you can go to the rest hall to read a book and find someone to chat." The lounge hall must also have invitations, official cards, and military cards to enter, and people are not allowed to enter. In addition, if there is any activity in the future, the waiter will go to the room to inform you, if you are not available, leave a letter, and if you have any other needs, you can also ask the waiter. ”

"Uh-oh." Rong Hong nodded again.

"That's it for now." The coachman said again, "If there is anything, just ask the waiter, these two days are estimated to be your free activities, the real assembly will be in three days, at the meeting, the actual output of this autumn harvest will be announced, and some other things will be announced, all of which are quite important things." ”

"Quite an important thing, what is it?" Rong Hong asked.

"I don't know." The coachman smiled strangely, "But believe me, in my experience, what will be announced at the manor meeting in three days is absolutely important, and it is definitely related to the future of all the adults, so be sure to attend, don't regret missing it." ”

"Is it to announce the new official system?" Li Hezhang interjected and asked.

"Who knows." The coachman shrugged his shoulders.

"That is, the rally in three days must be attended, but now we are free and no one cares about us?" Huang Kuan then asked.

"Pretty much." The coachman nodded, "The time and place of the meeting in three days have been set a long time ago, and you have a detailed list of reminders in your room, and the waiter will also remind you regularly, so you don't have to worry about forgetting jì."

In the days leading up to the rally, you can move freely in this manor, in addition to participating in the rice harvesting activities, you can also walk around, look around, and if it is a place that you are not allowed to enter, someone will naturally remind you.

Oh, by the way, living here, be sure to pay attention to some small problems, such as spitting, open defecation, and littering, are absolutely prohibited, petty theft and fights are absolutely not allowed, if you are discovered, you will be asked out immediately, and your name and behavior will be publicized, understand? ”

"Uh, understood." Rong Hong continued to nod, "That, I want to ask, the place where I live is there, but my two friends, no, people, what should they do?" Can you live with me? ”

"Of course not." The coachman smiled, "The place where you live is a VIP building, and the subordinates don't live there, they all live in another welcome building, and the treatment is completely different from the VIP building." There are waiters in the VIP building, and you can find them if you need anything, and you don't need to be a person at all.

Of course, if you are out of the VIP building and want to take your subordinates around, you can notify the waiter, and the attendant will notify the people in the welcome building and ask your subordinates to come to you, so you don't have to worry about not being able to find your subordinates. ”

"That's right." Rong Hong looked at Huang Kuan and Li Hezhang, and looked back at the coachman, "Then if I want to live with my subordinates, can I live in that guest house?" ”

"Absolutely." The coachman smiled, "If you have to, it doesn't matter, although the welcome building mainly entertains ordinary people, there is no rule that VIPs cannot be accommodated, where do you want to live with the next person, of course there is no problem, but the conditions are worse." ”

"Then take us to the reception first." Rong Hong said firmly, "I'm going to live with my friends, and when we arrange a room, we'll come here to participate in the rice harvesting activity." ”

"As you wish, sir." The coachman bowed, and then smiled at Huang Kuan and Li Hezhang, "Two gentlemen, although you two are not adults yet, I can see that you are not ordinary people, and you are not subordinates at all. I don't want to ask what the specific reason is, I just hope you can have a good time here, and by the way, I also wish you a bright future and become a high-powered adult as soon as possible. (To be continued......)