Episode 60 I Don't Want to Be a Governor!

On March 16th, at breakfast the next day, Fourteen Gege sent a long secret message to Xiaoqiang, first reminding him of a crucial question: the day after tomorrow, that is, March 18th, is the 22nd birthday of the Empress of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yourong!

In the past, the birthday of the Ming monarch was a day off for the whole country, and the same was true for the first and second years of Zhu Yourong's reign. But in the third year of this year, a series of great changes that have taken place in Nanyang during this period have attracted the attention of the whole country, so that it was not until yesterday, after the signing of the treaty between the Ming and the Netherlands and the great victory of the Ming military and diplomacy, under the joy of the whole country, everyone remembered that there was something worth celebrating in two days, that is, His Majesty's birthday.

When Xiang Xiaoqiang saw the telegram of the fourteenth grid, it suddenly dawned on him, and he remembered that he should have expressed something. In addition to sending a congratulatory message the day after tomorrow, you also have to prepare a birthday gift.

"Oh my God, this fourteen, why didn't you remind me earlier!" Xiang Xiaoqiang put down the knife and fork, stood up with a sigh, and shook the telegram, "It's good now, it's my birthday the day after tomorrow, and I can't get a gift back today!" I still want to get a few things with Nanyang characteristics! ”

Qiu Shu, who was stuffing steak and fruit into his mouth, heard it and looked up curiously:

"Fourteen? Who is it? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang reacted immediately, coughed lightly and laughed:

"Hey, it's Princess Liaoyang! I used to call her fourteen geges. ”

"Hmm," Qiu Yu didn't hear any clues as worried about Xiao Qiang, she said a little happily, "Xiao Qiang, I think of a way, aren't those treasures of Batavia Island still at sea?" Even if you count the voyage, you will arrive at Shanghai Port today, and you will be transported to Nanjing tomorrow. It's His Majesty's birthday the day after tomorrow. Anyway, it was originally meant to be dedicated to His Majesty, so you said that it was to celebrate Your Majesty's birthday and specially dedicated! ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang's heart lit up, and he said happily:

"That's right! That's all good stuff! All of Batavia's artwork is there! Qiu Qiu, sometimes your brain is really good. ”

Qiu Yu also smiled happily, and it took a long time to react:

"Huh? Sometimes? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang continued to read the telegram while eating breakfast, and suddenly laughed: "Hehe, Princess Liaoyang also suggested to me that I take these treasures as a birthday gift." Qiuqiu, you and Princess Liaoyang want to go together! ”

Thinking that he thought of himself and the resourceful Princess Liaoyang, Qiu Yu was very proud.

……

However, the telegram of Fourteen Gege was not mainly to remind him of Zhu Yourong's birthday, but Zheng Yuxuan delivered the news from the palace, and last night a minister suggested to His Majesty that Xiang Xiaoqiang be appointed as the first governor of Pazia.

Xiang Xiaoqiang saw the news and thundered in his head. His first thought was that someone wanted to drive him out of the power center of the Ming Dynasty, send him overseas, and become a feudal official. He immediately thought of someone: Shen Rongxuan.

He knew that Shen Rongxuan had an advantage, that is, he would not let the internal power struggle affect the interests of the country. For example, this Nanyang issue is exactly the time when it is necessary to unite with the outside world, although he used to see himself as a threat, during this time he also stood by himself and backed himself at home.

But now that the Nanyang issue is over, Shen Rongxuan has also begun to "deal with" himself.

The minister who made suggestions to Zhu Yourong was definitely not Shen Rongxuan. He's not going to come out personally.

Xiang Xiaoqiang's heart "thumped" and continued to look at the telegram. Fourteen Gege's guess was the same as him, and he also thought that this was Shen Rongxuan's small action. She also thought that for such a big matter, His Majesty would definitely discuss it with Shen Rongxuan. Shen Rongxuan will definitely support this suggestion. It is very likely that he said that Pazia had just arrived, and the first governor was very important, and he had to be able to suppress it, and he had great prestige in the local area. This is very suitable for Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang, as the minister of the Qincha, negotiated with the Dutch colonial authorities several times, ran for the interests of the Chinese, and served as the top commander of the Batavia Island Military Management Committee, no one is more suitable than him......

These words are all analyzed in 14 grids. Although she analyzed it, Xiang Xiaoqiang still broke out in a cold sweat the more she looked at it, her analysis was very reasonable, if Shen Rongxuan wanted to get Xiang Xiaoqiang to Nanyang, he would definitely persuade Zhu Yourong like this.

Fourteen Gege also continued to analyze: His Majesty is definitely reluctant to send Xiang Xiaoqiang to Nanyang as the governor, and she definitely hopes that Xiang Xiaoqiang will stay in Nanjing, continue to be the commander of the People's Guard, and continue to be her teacher...... Shen Rongxuan will definitely persuade His Majesty: Pazia is the first new territory added to the empire in hundreds of years, and the first governor is extremely important, and he needs a smart and brave general like Xiang Xiaoqiang...... If Your Majesty is really reluctant to stay away from such love, then you can shorten the term of office of the first governor and let him stay in Pazia for a year and a half, and let Xiang Xiaoqiang come back when the empire's rule in Pazia is initially on track...... In this way, the likelihood of His Majesty's consent will be greatly increased.

When Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that Fourteen Gege clearly pointed out that His Majesty was reluctant to give up, his face burned hot. It seems that Zhu Yourong's good impression of himself has never been hidden from Fourteen Gege's eyes...... When she got along with Zhu Yourong, she never was on the side once! You can see it?

But he couldn't care about this and continued to watch. Fourteen Gege analysis, no matter what Shen Rongxuan and the ministers said about only letting Xiang Xiaoqiang go for a year and a half and coming back soon, one thing is certain, as long as he becomes the governor, the People's Guard will immediately change his surname. And it is almost certain that Xiang Xiaoqiang will definitely not be able to come back for a year and a half. After a year and a half, there must be thousands of reasons why Xiang Xiaoqiang can't get out of office and step down, and his tenure will be longer and longer. Taking a step back, even if he really comes back in a year and a half, the power cake of the Ming Center has already been redivided, and there is no slag from Xiang Xiaoqiang.

Fourteen Gege strongly suggested that Xiang Xiaoqiang, if he received Zhu Yourong's inquiry, he must try his best to remove the position of governor of Pazia and return to China as soon as possible. She also mentioned ambiguously in the telegram that Zheng Yuxuan also wanted him to come back......

Oh, yes! Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly thought that becoming the governor of Pazia would not only greatly damage his career line, but also hurt his love line! Not only will Fourteen Gege have no chance to chase him, but even Zheng Yuxuan, who has almost arrived, will have no chance with him again!

Xiang Xiaoqiang sighed, handed the telegram to Qiu Yun, and then leaned back on the back of the chair, covering his face with his hands, and sighed exaggeratedly. After a long sigh, he found that Qiu Yu ignored him, and was just engrossed in reading the telegram, and he also felt bored, and grabbed his knife and fork and continued to eat breakfast, but his mind was thinking: how to think of a reasonable, untraceable reason to justifiably dismiss the governor of Pazia?

Xiang Xiaoqiang sighed secretly: Alas, the governor of Pazia, the official of the feudal territory, this is something that no number of people can grab when they break their heads! I'm just pushing it out. In Nanjing, nominally barely "under one person, above 10,000 people", seeing that Shen Rongxuan still had long and short students, he was the governor of Nanyang and monopolized the military and political power of the colony, but there was only "above 10,000 people", not even "under one person".

In fact, in the final analysis, I can only stay in this time and space for five years, and my original ideal: to get a lot of money, marry a lot of wives, and live comfortably for five years, there are no better conditions than this. As long as you want, you can be the emperor of the soil for five years in Pazia, not to mention marrying the twelve hairpins of the Hui Ming, it is very realistic to really marry the twelve dozen of the Hui Ming. …… You can also eat hawksbill turtles, Australian lobsters, golden moray eels, and fresh papaya juice to drink anytime and anywhere......

Moreover, once you become a governor, the power in your hands will be absolutely stable, and no one around you will threaten you. It's not like in Nanjing, where you watch out for this and calculate that all day long......

Alas, why are you so cheap, don't let the comfortable soil emperor do it, and have to go back to Nanjing to live a frightened life? Is that exciting? Also, why don't they want me to stay as governor? Zheng Yuxuan wants me to go back, but it is understandable that she is already waiting to be Mrs. Xiang. Fourteen Gege also wants me to go back...... Could it be that she really likes me? Like me as much as I like her?

Xiang Xiaoqiang continued to think: If I don't go back, is it possible for her to take over my position and become an official commander from acting commander? …… No, probably not. After all, she is a former Manchu Gege, and no matter how talented she is, she will not be allowed to hold such an important position. …… Then it would be understandable that she wanted me to go back, and if I went back, at least she would have a backer, and if I wouldn't go, she would fall into the same pitiful situation as before.

After figuring out this section, Xiang Xiaoqiang felt a wave of disappointment in his heart. Fourteen Gege is a practical person after all...... But he immediately thought again, if there were no such entanglements of interests, no question of whether she could succeed to the post of commander, and no question of support, would she want to go back? Definitely. Xiang Xiaoqiang instinctively thinks so.

Xiang Xiaoqiang asked Qiuyun boredly:

"Qiuyu, your husband doesn't want to stay in this place where birds don't, and wants to return to China, help me think about it, is there any good way?"

Qiu Yu was immersed in reading the telegram, and now that he had finished reading it, he also understood what was going on. She looked up and thought for a moment, then smiled:

"Hmm...... I think it's good to stay in Nanyang as a governor, I like it here. ”

"Silly girl!" Xiang Xiaoqiang was angry and funny, glared and said, "Nanyang, where is the score!" Do you think it's like Batavia anywhere? That's not Batavia, that's Pazia! Where birds don't, there are no decent cities at all, it's all primeval forests, swamps, poisonous snakes, big spiders, and mosquitoes that bite you every day...... There are no shops there, no place to buy high-end fashion, no beautiful jewelry, and being a governor there is no different from being a chief! You are mentally prepared, and you are willing to go with me to be the chief's wife, and you are up to you. ”

Qiu Yu was already amused by him and giggled, laughing so hard that she couldn't straighten her waist. After a while, he stopped and said with a smile:

"Oh Xiaoqiang, if you don't want to go, you don't want to go, it's so mysterious, I'm not a three-year-old child...... Huh, malaria? By the way, if you don't want to go, just send a telegram to Your Majesty, saying that you have malaria and will die if you don't leave Nanyang, isn't it? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang almost turned his back on him. This kind of bad idea is also ......

Hey? But when he thinks about it, it's not entirely a bad idea. As long as she pretends to be "unaccustomed to water and soil", staying in Nanyang is either a headache or brain fever, Zhu Yourong is so good to herself, she needs a reason to transfer herself back to China, will she send a doctor to check if he is lying?

Xiang Xiaoqiang was overjoyed, laughed, stood up and hugged Qiu Yun is fierce kiss, touched the back of Qiu Qiu's head over and over again, and said vaguely:

"That's nice...... My Qiu Yu is getting smarter and smarter......"

Qiu Yun was kissed by him, but Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly let go of her, ran over and pulled the bell, and asked people to immediately call the military doctor of the People's Guard in the governor's mansion and specially assigned to him.

After a while, a major medic came in with a medical kit:

"My lord, where are you ......?"

"I ask you," Xiang Xiaoqiang asked, "what will happen if I don't adapt to the soil?" ”

“？！”

……

After a while, Xiang Xiaoqiang turned around and finally made the military doctor understand that if he wanted to pretend to be sick, he had to be sick because of the unique water and soil on this side of Nanyang, and it was good to leave Nanyang.

Soon, the military doctor gave him a list of several typical tropical diseases: malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and silent fever...... These diseases have something in common, they are basically bitten by tropical mosquitoes, so as to infect the bacteria, and the symptoms are generally nothing more than fever and chills, vomiting and diarrhea, anemia, hepatosplenomegaly, and sore joints in the limbs...... Anyway, it sounds scarier than the other.

Xiang Xiaoqiang scratched his head and asked:

"There's no disease, it's not easy to detect? I mean, for example, just sore limbs, stomach pain, nausea, etc., you can't see it at a glance, or you can measure it with a thermometer? ”

"This ......," the medic muttered, "there should be some, but none of them are typical of these conditions. There are many early symptoms that are similar to what you said, and they are not easy to detect and still need to be observed. ”

The military doctor taught him hand in hand for a while, and Xiang Xiaoqiang knew in his heart that anyway, in the early stage, the clinical manifestations of these "soil and water unsuitable" diseases are almost the same, just fool around.

He rewarded the military doctor with dozens of Mingyang, and ordered:

"When you go out, people ask you what's wrong with Ben Qincha, and you say that Ben Qin Cha is a little uncomfortable, and maybe a little uncomfortable. Got it? ”

The military doctor has understood that he has to pretend to be unsuitable, although he doesn't know why, but he will definitely try his best to cooperate.

"Pinch hehe," after the military doctor left, Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled triumphantly, "Those old men in Nanjing want to keep me here, and they have calculated everything, but they have missed that there is still such a cute little thing in the world as 'unadaptable'." ”

……

In the morning, Zhu Yourong's telegram came. Xiang Xiaoqiang was overjoyed after a few lines - the news of Fourteen Gege was good, and Zhu Yourong officially canonized himself as an earl. In order to reward him for everything he won for the empire this time, and in recognition of his previous series of achievements, he went deep into the Northern Qing Dynasty, the New Year's coup, the defense of Nanjing, and the siege and annihilation of Pukou...... The title of "Earl of Jiang Xinzhou" is hereby given.

Jiang Xinzhou? Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at these words, and immediately remembered that this is an island in the Nanjing section of the Yangtze River, where the base of the Yangtze River Fleet is located. Nanming has Jiangxinzhou Town on the island. On the telegram, Zhu Yourong said that in order to commemorate Xiang Xiaoqiang's outstanding performance in the defense of Nanjing and the battle of annihilation of Pukou, the fief was specially set at Jiangxinzhou, an important fortress town on the Yangtze River defense line and between Nanjing and Pukou.

Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that in the current Nanming, the title of the marquis was generally named after a county, and the earl was a town. But it's not like in ancient times, wherever the fief is, all the taxes of that place will be given to you. The current fiefs are only in name, and the annuities of the Ming nobles are all issued by the royal family according to their ranks. However, even if it is uniformly distributed, between Hou and Hou, between Uncle and Uncle, the annuity is also high and low. Generally, your annuity is determined according to the tax income of your nominal fief.

Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that his "Earl of Jiang Xinzhou", Zhu Yourong's given annuity was 500,000 Mingyang. One thing Xiang Xiaoqiang can be sure of is that although Jiangxinzhou is a town, there is not a single acre of arable land or a factory on the island, and it is all bunker fortifications. Even if all the taxes in Jiang Xinzhou for a year are added, it is far less than 500,000 Mingyang. Such a high annuity is already equivalent to the level of a marquis. Princess Liaoyang is titled as a princess, and the annuity is high among the princesses of Daming, only 700,000 Mingyang. And the princess's annuity is generally on par with the prince and the county king.

This is obviously Zhu Yourong's partiality towards himself. I not only want to make my title in a hero's land, but also want to make myself earn a lot of money. Xiang Xiaoqiang thought of this, and his heart couldn't help but feel hot.

He is already a nobleman. And with this earl's annuity, he has already become one of the richest people in the Ming Dynasty.

Next, Zhu Yourong asked him to stay in Batavia, and in the next period of time, he presided over the handover of the Ming occupation army and the Dutch East India Governor's Government, and then led the Ming army stationed on Batavia Island to withdraw from Batavia Island and enter Pazia Island.

Xiang Xiaoqiang understood that this was a prelude to appointing him as the governor of Pazia. Now let him take full charge of the withdrawal of troops, stationing and other matters, let him be fully familiar with Nanyang affairs, I am afraid that in a few days, after leading the Ming army to settle in Pazia, he is familiar enough and has enough prestige, he will be officially appointed as the governor.

Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that he couldn't wait any longer. He immediately asked Qiu Yu to send a report to Zhu Yourong: He has been unaccustomed to the water and soil in Nanyang these days, often vomiting and diarrhea, his limbs are sore and unbearable, and he is often accompanied by a low-grade fever, and he does not get better after taking medicine and injections...... But a few days ago, Badawi's situation was severe, and then the two countries were at war, Batavia's military management, and then negotiations, and he was not allowed to retreat, and he had to hold on to his illness even if he was sick...... But now that the overall situation has been decided, the next thing is the follow-up trivialities, and I hope that Your Majesty will send another official to come, and he will be willing to continue to go to Europe and complete the set tasks.

Sure enough, at noon, Zhu Yourong sent another telegram, asking about his condition with great concern, and asked him if he needed to return to China to recuperate.

"Autumn Stream!" Xiang Xiaoqiang took the telegram and shouted, "Are you willing to return to China?" ”

Qiu Yun was fiddling with a few pots of flowers in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling glass window, and when he heard him shout, he turned around and asked:

"What?"

"Now that Your Majesty has returned from the power generation, I can choose to return to China to recuperate and not go to Europe. Would you rather go back home with me, or go to Europe with me? ”