Suzhou is about 180 miles away from Shanghai, and a group of foreigners are busy going back and forth on this road, measuring the ground height and designing the best track direction.

William, the chief designer of the foreigners, pointed to a cemetery in front of him and asked, "What kind of village is this?" This mass grave must be moved, and we will be working soon! ”

The translator surnamed Hu translated the words truthfully.

After observing the scale of the cemetery, the guide looked at William in embarrassment, "This cemetery is too big, if it is forcibly relocated, it will definitely attract the opposition of many people, you don't understand!" We Han people have a kind of local complex! Treat your ancestors more faithfully than you do to God! ”

Although William didn't understand what he said, he understood blasphemy against God, and immediately pointed to the cemetery and retorted solemnly, "God lives in heaven, they live in the earth, just ask them to move, why don't they want to?" ”

Seeing that the foreigners seemed to have made up their minds to move other people's ancestral graves, the guide did not dare to slack off, and immediately asked people to go back to Suzhou to inform the Suzhou Yamen, and secretly wondered: It is too difficult to serve such people!

Liu Xiucai didn't expect that as soon as he was elected mayor of the town, he was faced with a tricky matter, a group of foreigners actually wanted to level their ancestral graves, this cemetery has been used from four hundred years ago to today, I don't know how many ancestors have buried them! No one in Yushan Town could tolerate this kind of thing happening.

Zhou Papi was angry, Liu Laohu was ready to send it down, Liu Xiucai wrote a crusade against foreigners in his busy schedule, and more than 2,000 angry people rushed to the cemetery like this.

Li Yunzhong didn't expect to come down to inspect the election process and encounter this kind of thing! involuntarily called Zuo Zongtang, Wang Qinglu, and Zhao Liewen and brought guards to follow, and saw more than a dozen foreigners being chased and fleeing in all directions from a distance.

The guide was patted with a blue nose and swollen eyes, and begged the people around: "You folks don't care about my business, it's the foreigners who want to level your ancestral grave!" I don't agree with them doing that. ”

Liu Xiucai saw that the foreigners were surrounded, and the surrounding people were excited to beat the foreigners with a flat pole, Liu Xiucai had read the newspaper after all, and those who knew that the officials were also afraid of the foreigners, hesitated, and finally dissuaded the people to stop, "Folks! It's enough to teach foreigners a lesson, don't make a fuss and accept your fate! Otherwise, it will be difficult for the government to pursue it! ”

When William saw that the people had stopped, he helped his companions to stand up, and when he saw that many of his compatriots were seriously injured, he angrily scolded him in English, "You are doing this against the law!" If you hurt us for no reason, I will definitely report this to the consulate, and none of you will be able to escape! You must compensate us for our losses. ”

When the people saw him muttering a lot, they looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time, and the guide hurriedly looked around and shouted, "Translator Hu!" Hu Translation! Where are you, come out quickly! We don't understand the words of foreigners, come out quickly! ”

Seeing that Hu Translator did not answer, the guide smiled bitterly, and saw that the people around him didn't seem to understand what the foreigners were saying, so he suddenly had an idea, and hugged his fists at the people and said: "Fellow villagers, the foreigners just said that they were wrong, and they should not dig other people's ancestral graves, and they promise not to do it in the future!" ”

Seeing that the guide seemed to be translating his words, as if he had found a confidant, William grabbed the guide's arm and pointed angrily at the people: "You must ask them to apologize to us and compensate us for our losses, and this cemetery must be moved, otherwise I will go to the consulate to report this matter!" ”

The guide translated indiscriminately, "We are wrong in this matter, I will compensate you for the damage, the train will be rerouted, and you will no longer be asked to move the grave." ”

Liu Laohu saw the clue and said loudly: "I don't think the foreigner is admitting his mistake, you look at his hideous appearance, he is obviously scolding us, don't believe the words of the dog translator, he must want to go back to find the official to suppress us!" ”

The guide hurriedly waved his hand and shook his head vigorously, and when he saw William muttering angrily, the guide was sweating profusely and didn't know how to translate.

Li Yunzhong saw that the people were getting more and more excited, and many people began to advocate killing these foreigners, thinking that if this matter was not solved today, Meng's ability to rise would be limited, and he would soon ask him for instructions, and it would be good to solve it clearly in advance while the matter was not too big. ”

Li Yunzhong asked William in English, "Why are you here?" ”

William let go of the guide, grabbed Li Yunzhong and said, "Oh! God finally has someone to translate my words, you help me ask them why they are beating me for no reason, you see what my friends are beating, we are going to the hospital soon, you tell them to get out of the way! ”

Li Yunzhong looked at Liu Xiucai and said, "Why do foreigners want to beat them when you ask you?" It is illegal to do so! ”

All the people around shouted loudly!

"He wants to dig up our ancestral graves, can't he beat them? I still want to kill him? ”

"Yes, kill him......"

"Young man, why are they digging our ancestral graves?"

…………

Liu Xiucai waved his hands, signaled for the people to calm down, and turned to look at Li Yunzhong, "You ask foreigners why they want to dig up the ancestral graves of our residents in Yushan Town!" ”

Lieutenant Li Yun took William's hand away and asked him, "Why are you digging their ancestral graves?" If you don't answer clearly, they won't let you go. ”

Could it be that they, like some nail households in later generations, just want more compensation?

William became furious, "Shit! We are determining the direction of the tracks, if we want to bypass this cemetery, then we will have to build more than 40 miles, which will waste hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, no! It's not a matter of silver, you have to know that every train has to go around so far, it will waste transportation costs! We're going to build a perfect railway! This is what your King Han personally requested, if you don't give us an explanation today, I will personally ask His Royal Highness the King of Han for an explanation! ”

"The foreigners say they're building...... The road, the road has to go through the cemetery, you see, the cemetery is surrounded by either mountains or lakes, this ...... It's not easy to do! Li Yunzhong tried his best to translate the foreigner's words to be more tactful

Liu Xiucai said: "What kind of road to build for no reason!" For what to pass through the cemetery! Our ancestral graves must not be moved, and you tell the foreigners that unless the people in our town die, they will not be allowed to dig their graves! ”

It seems that they are not blackmailing, they are playing for real! Li Yunzhong really didn't understand how conservative the thinking of people in this era was, "You can find a Taoist priest or monk or something to move the tomb to another feng shui treasure land!" I think the government will compensate each family with a little silver......"

Liu Xiucai saw Li Yunzhong talking nonsense, and roared, "Can the ancestral tomb be moved casually?" In case the ancestors blame it! We can't afford it! If the government is unreasonable, I will go to sue the royal court, I don't believe that there is no royal law in the world! ”

Li Yunzhong was speechless, you were already suing the royal court, and persuaded: "This road is...... Emperor of the Qing Dynasty...... Yes, he promised the foreigners to build it, and the king of Han disagreed, but the foreigners couldn't afford to offend! Their ships are strong and their guns are sharp, and they can sail the ironclad ships to Nanjing at once, and you think that at that time, they may have to hand you all over, and the foreigners will not withdraw their troops! ”

Liu Xiucai also thought that foreigners were unreasonable, and turned all his anger to Xianfeng, "How can this emperor be, how can he use our ancestral tomb to curry favor with foreigners!" No wonder the head rat who was beaten by the short hair! ”

Zhao Liewen heard him call him short hair, and said unhappily: "Now that it is the world of the Han Dynasty, how can you be so presumptuous, if the King of Han also wants to be like the second emperor of the Qing Dynasty, you are a capital crime, and you will also affect your family and relatives." ”

Liu Xiucai also knew that he had lost his words just now, and said with a weak heart: "Isn't this my habit!" It will definitely be changed in the future, but what about this foreigner? I can see that several of them are capable people, please think of a way, all the people of Yushan Town have thanked me here. After speaking, he didn't forget to bow to Li Yun and others.