Zuo Zongtang suddenly realized, and said after a moment: "Xiwang Niang is a rare strange woman in the world, and she is also a woman who is soft on the outside and strong on the inside, but in the final analysis, she is still a woman. But all women are jealous, not to mention that Xi Wang Niang is a strong woman? The king of the west and the queen of the west have a bad chaff relationship, and have been through hardships together, the king of the west she did not hesitate to show up for the great cause of the king of the west, and she tried her best to plan the strategy, the king of the west, you can be accompanied by this woman for a lifetime, are you not satisfied? ”

Xiao Yungui's old face turned a rare red, and he defended: "I don't really want to take a few more princesses, but when I got closer to Zhou Xiuying and Mu Yinghong in Shanghai, she was suspicious." ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said: "As the saying goes, a husband is not a wife, King Xi, have you ever thought about Zhou Xiuying and Mu Yinghong?" If you haven't thought about it, why do you want to take two girls to swagger through the market and provoke people's handles? ”

Xiao Yungui was stunned, his mouth was wide open and he couldn't speak, and after a while, he saw that Zuo Zongtang's teasing smile had not yet dispersed, so he changed the topic and said: "By the way, Zuo Xiang, two M1842 rifle production lines in Kamelryder, Sweden, as well as three accessories and medicine production lines, have all been shipped, do you think it is better to be placed in the Suzhou Manufacturing Bureau or the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau." And how are jishu personnel and workers going to be arranged? ”

Zuo Zongtang turned out a file and said: "Xu Shou of the Ministry of Industry has prepared the regulations, and the preliminary site is still in the Suzhou Manufacturing Bureau. As for the personnel and workers of Jishu, they are all drawn from the Suzhou Manufacturing Bureau and the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau, and there are also night schools run by schools in various parts of Suzhou, and there will also be a number of workers who have graduated from the night technician training course. As long as these people follow the foreign engineers and study hard in Shanghai for a while, there will be no problem. ”

Xiao Yungui hummed and said, "I have also read Xu Shou's charter in general. After all, he is an expert, we just listen to him, and it is okay to put an important military production department in Suzhou, which is indeed extremely vulnerable to threats from the sea. ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said: "Actually, the king of the West has already been aware of this matter, so at this time, don't you want to divert the topic just now?" ”

Xiao Yungui coughed, and said with a slight embarrassment: "Lao Zuo, it seems that you are really an old tree blooming, what?" Now that the family is here, they will also joke? ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said nothing, Xiao Yungui got up and said, "I'll go to Li Kaifang's mansion." He is taking the wind for this king today, will you go? ”

Zuo Zongtang said with a smile: "I said goodbye to Master Li in the morning, and today Zuo's family is here, and it is time to reunite with the family, so I won't bother." Then Zuo Zongtang said earnestly: "King of the West." You've only arrived today, so you should spend more time with the Queen of the West. She's pregnant, and it's when she needs someone to be around. "Seeing Xiao Yungui's face stinks. Zuo Zongtang hurriedly changed his words and said: "Zuo is too talkative, if the king of the west has something, please take care of himself." ”

At that moment, Zuo Zongtang sent Xiao Yungui to the door, and Xiao Yungui took Tang Erniu and other guards to Li Kaifang's mansion.

Li Kaifang's mansion is not too far away from the Xiwang Mansion, which was originally the residence of a Qing court official who returned to his hometown, and after the city of Suzhou was broken, this official is said to have martyred the Qing court. But listening to the private discussion of others, he was forced to donate too hard by Zhang Guoliang, the defender of Suzhou, and was slaughtered by the Qing army when the city of Zuihou was broken.

When he arrived at the door of the mansion, Li Kaifang personally took his family and several cronies to greet him at the door and entered the mansion. Li Kaifang led Xiao Yungui to the inner hall to sit down.

Xiao Yungui saw that the banquet was full of delicacies, as well as a few bottles of Sydney wine, and this meal was only enough for ordinary people for two or three months. Xiao Yungui couldn't help but sigh secretly that even his own generals had corrupted so quickly, let alone the bigwigs who held the Holy Treasury on Tianjing's side? Thinking of this, Xiao Yungui couldn't help but secretly worry, it seems that it is really as Zuo Zongtang said, the relationship between law and human affection is not so clear overnight.

Li Kaifang is a lot more sleek, and he is Xiao Yungui's confidant, Xiao Yungui was embarrassed to attack on the spot, so he put his robe into the table.

At this time, Li Kaifang exchanged his family and cronies for companionship, and the law of heaven can only be different according to the throne of the person who is crowned with the prince, Li Kaifang is not a prince, only a wife, but Xiao Yungui saw that the few female officials who followed him looked quite ambiguous about him, Xiao Yungui secretly thought that this guy must have taken people into the house, but he didn't dare to make it public.

Xiao Yungui is actually not very convinced of the marriage law of the Kingdom of Heaven, just like the later generations, monogamy is also stipulated, but in fact, rich and powerful people have little mistresses or something outside, not to mention that it is still the feudal period of the Qing Dynasty? Like Li Kaifang, who is considered the No. 3 person in Sufu Province, it is strange that the house does not have a few female officials or maids in the same room.

There is also this prohibition of alcohol, although Tianjing explicitly prohibits alcohol, but it does not play any restraining role for the upper echelons at all, but it is strictly enforced in the Xidian army, but everyone who drinks alcohol in the army is punished, and the inner hall of an important person like Li Kaifang is a place that the law cannot control.

Li Kaifang, his family and confidants took turns to toast Xiao Yungui, Xiao Yungui did not refuse, after everyone drank it, Xiao Yungui smiled and asked a few words, in order to show his favor to Li Kaifang.

The banquet ended quickly, because King Xi said something important to discuss with Li Kaifang after the meal, so everyone hurriedly finished the wine and dinner.

Then Xiao Yungui and Li Kaifang came to the study to discuss matters alone, and walked into Li Kaifang's study, only to see a lot of Christian classics on the bookshelf, Xiao Yungui couldn't help but smile and picked up an English version of the "Old Testament" and asked: "Kaifang, can you still understand foreign languages?" ”

Li Kaifang smiled a little embarrassedly: "Let His Royal Highness King Xiwang see it, his subordinates just heard that this is a foreign version of the doctrine, so they asked someone to bring a set from Shanghai to fill the scene." ”

Xiao Yungui put the book back on the bookshelf and said with a smile: "You are honest, there are no others here, and there is no need for official titles, let's be like brothers in private." ”

Li Kaifang responded, Xiao Yungui sat down and stroked the armrest of the Taishi chair and sighed: "Kaifang, your rosewood table and chair are only very precious." ”

Li Kaifang observed the words and knew that the king of the west was a little displeased, and hurriedly said: "This is the furniture that originally existed in the house, the owner of this house was originally an official of the Qing Demon, and the furniture was very luxurious. After the younger brother moved in, he saw that the furniture was fine, so he didn't order anyone to move out. ”

Xiao Yungui hummed lightly and said: "I know this, you only bought a few things before and after you moved here, most of them were used for the original things, and they were nothing." Kaifang, it's not easy for us to fight the world, although it was said that we were forced to rebel back then, to put it bluntly, it was also for the sake of wealth, but now we haven't done a big thing, and we can't be too luxurious, otherwise once everyone is corrupt and degenerate, I'm afraid that if we don't wait for the Qing demon to fight, our own hearts will be scattered. ”

Li Kaifang only felt a cold sweat, and hurriedly bowed down and said: "The little brother has a tender belly, and the elder brother has learned a lesson, and he will be thrifty in everything in the future." ”

Xiao Yungui pointed to the pestle on the side and said: "It's good that you understand, but you don't have to be too yourself, as long as it is within the scope of your own expenses, this king will not ask anything, sit down and talk." ”

Li Kaifang thanked him and sat down, Xiao Yungui continued: "You did a good job on the errand of the military department, and I didn't plan to let you lead the troops to the battlefield again, but there was something wrong with the strategy in Fujian, and you still have to be a veteran of the West Temple to control the scene." ”

Li Kaifang hugged his fists and said: "The younger brother is sent by his brother, and he will not give up. ”

Xiao Yungui smiled and said, "Yes, with the study, this speech is also crepe." ”

Li Kaifang heard Xiao Yungui laughing with himself, and he breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "Working with Zuo Xiang and them, there will be some ink in their speech, so that my brother will laugh." ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "It's a good thing that you are still willing to learn, I heard that several thin books and female officials in your house are all talented and talented women, this king knows that you and Zuo Xiang are under pressure to work together, and after returning to the house, you will pick up the lamp at night and let the female official teach you to read and write, you are much stronger than Ji Wenyuan." Ji Wenyuan, this kid, is still looking for someone to write official documents, it's not like you can already write official documents yourself. Then Xiao Yungui looked at Li Kaifang with a smile and said, "The female official named Qin Shuxian at the banquet just now is your teacher who reads and writes, but Kaifang, you are not honest, have you already accepted others?" ”

Li Kaifang was shocked into a cold sweat again, and snorted: "The younger brother and that Qin Shuxian read and read under the lamp every night, and after a long time, they secretly had affection, and the younger brother didn't control himself, so he asked His Royal Highness of the West to surrender his crimes." ”

Xiao Yungui smiled and waved his hand and said: "The king also knows a thing or two about you and Qin Shuxian, Lang is a concubine, this is human nature, as long as there is true affection, and you don't force others, this king will not ask so much." But you have to remember that if one day you really rely on your power to oppress people and force your sisters in the army to follow you, this king will not let you go. ”

Li Kaifang hurriedly responded, Xiao Yungui took a sip of tea and said, "Do you know what went wrong with the Fujian strategy?" ”

Li Kaifang said: "I know, it was Li Xiucheng's royal majesty who was not strict and had an accident." ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Yes, Li Xiucheng's subordinates didn't give him a long face, but they did some evil things that were angry with the people to drag him back, and he is no longer suitable to lead troops south to Fujian." Then Xiao Yungui looked at Li Kaifang and said, "Do you still have any difficulties and worries about going south to Fujian?" ”

Li Kaifang got up and opened a curtain hanging in the study, but behind the curtain was a map of Ningbo and Fujian, Li Kaifang pointed to Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Chuzhou, Fujian: "Brother, the younger brother has been paying attention to the Fujian military affairs since Ningbo overcame it, and the Qing demon head Li Tingyu gathered 60,000 troops distributed in Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Chuzhou. We have more than 20,000 new elites in Ningbo, supplemented by 30,000 local township soldiers, which is enough to go south to capture Fujian, and the younger brother is not afraid of the demons. Speaking of this, Li Kaifang paused and then said: "What the younger brother is worried about is the foreigners in Fuzhou and Xiamen. (To be continued......)