"Haha, Brother Jiang, you are wrong to blame a good person."

Yang Zhongne let Jiang Chenying and Yu Xu into the Fengtian Mansion together, and asked someone to bring tea, and after hearing Jiang Chenying tell some of the situations he saw on the road and express some suspicions, he couldn't help but laugh.

"What? Lord Yang, is there anything strange in this? Without waiting for Jiang Chenying to ask, Yu Xu first asked Yang Zhongne.

"Hehe, in fact, these rules are also helpless. Lord Xu, and Brother Jiang must not be very clear about our current situation in Fengtian. Two words, 'trouble'. Yang Zhongne shook his head and smiled.

"What's the 'trouble'?" Jiang Chenying asked.

"In the past two years, the population of Fengtian has gradually increased, and business travel has gradually increased. Although Mukden has the name of 'Shengjing', it is far inferior to many large cities in Guannai. How can we tolerate so many chariots and horses? Yang Zhongne said.

"Lord Yang, although there are many carriages and horses outside Fengtian City, but, looking down, it shouldn't be so powerful, right?" Narration asked.

"Hehe, after all, Lord Xuxu doesn't come and go in Mukden. You're afraid you don't know yet, do you? On festival days, there are more than 1,000 carriages at the four gates outside the city of Mukden! This is even less the time to pay for food. At that time, the people used carts and horses to pay rice and grain to the granary outside the city, and then went into the city to shop, and there were about two or three thousand horse-drawn carriages parked outside the city. If it is not restricted, with the current streets of Fengtian, I am afraid that it will not be able to be cleaned up for a few months! Yang Zhongne said with a smile.

“…… How can there be so many carriages? Jiang Chenying and Yu Xu were shocked by Yang Zhongne's words, and couldn't help but ask again. In the concept of the two of them, even Beijing City may not have such a terrible "traffic flow".

"There's no way around it. Although the population of Fengtian has increased in the past two years, it is still vast and sparsely populated. Our government does not have enough manpower, so we can't collect it one by one, so we have to let the people hand over the rice and grain by themselves. However, the people also planted a lot of fields in the wasteland, and how could they transport them without the need for chariots and horses? Therefore, in recent years, there have been more and more carriages and horses in Fengtian, and Lord Fei really has no way to set those rules. ......," Yang Zhongne said again.

"Fengtian is really rich!" Yu Xu couldn't help but feel a little jealous. No wonder Kangxi was so good to Ferdinand, being an official in a place like Fengtian, where there are few fat people but plenty of money, then his political achievements are almost the same as what he fell from the world, and a little bit of strength can be done? However, he immediately dispelled this thought, because he remembered how Ferdinand had reformed those people in the Beijing Banner here, and that kind of thing could not be done without a little guts.

"Hehe, I haven't asked Lord Yu yet, ...... you and Brother Jiang are here in Fengtian," Yang Zhongne asked again.

"Oh. Lord Woo and I went to Korea on the orders of the emperor to canonize the crown prince of Joseon. Jiang Chenying replied.

"North Korea? I see! Yang Zhongne nodded. Since North Korea was frightened half to death by Old Man Fei and was found to have all kinds of "anti" traces, the monarchs and ministers have been panicking. Finally, the king of North Korea, Li Zhuo, seized the opportunity to launch a coup d'état, abolished Zhang Xifei, who held most of the power, and blamed everything to Kangxi on this woman, and at the same time, he also named his other concubine, a son under one year old born to Shu Concubine, as Yanrenjun, and made him the crown prince of Joseon, and asked Kangxi for approval. This kind of thing must first go through the Li Fan Academy, and Old Man Fei naturally knows about it, and it is a person who is familiar with Old Man Fei, so he naturally knows about it.

"Lord Yang, I don't know where Lord Fei is? We're going to borrow some soldiers and horses from him as a guard of honor! In addition, we need some official documents from the Rifan Academy. Seeing that things were almost finished, he talked about the purpose of this time again.

"This ...... Although Lord Fei is in his mansion, there are guests who need to be received! So, I'm afraid the two adults will have to wait a little longer. Yang Zhongne said.

"Guests? What guests? "Who will be the one who can let the Shangshu of the Lifan Yuan personally come forward to greet him in Mukden? Yu Xu couldn't help but use his brain again.

"It's a group of Westerners. It seems that I have just arrived from Macau in the south. Or did Lord Fei personally go to Liaodong to pick them up! Yang Zhongne was also a little embarrassed. A few Westerners actually asked the dignified Shangshu to come forward to greet him in person, and this shelf was a little bigger.

"Westerners?"

**********

Yang Zhongne was right, Old Man Fei was indeed receiving Westerners.

Originally, after the opening of Heilongjiang Customs, he wanted to recruit a group of people from the West, but the results were very small. Therefore, when Bai Jin was leaving, Old Man Fei entrusted this priest to help hire a group of professionals in Europe, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, and medicine. And in order to allow Bai Jin to pull some more firearms experts and all kinds of workers for him, he didn't waste his tongue, and before leaving, he forced a lot of silver to be used as activity expenses.

Now, all his efforts have not been in vain. After such a long time, when he almost thought that there was no hope, someone actually brought a letter from Macao. The letter was written by Bai Jin, in French, and Old Man Fei couldn't understand it, but although he was very unhappy that this guy who clearly understood Chinese came to such a thing, but this did not cause much of an obstacle, that British old man Brom has been staying in Vladivostok, proficient in English, French and Spanish, and over the years his Chinese has also been quite rooted, and he was found to be a translator.

The content of the letter is very simple, that is, Bai Jin has always remembered Old Man Fei's commission, and now he has completed the task. When this letter arrived in the hands of Old Man Fei, the person Bai Jin was looking for for him should have already arrived in China, and he sent someone to pick it up.

As a result, after reading the letter, Old Man Fei jumped three feet high, and immediately sent someone south to pick him up.

And after receiving the person, Old Man Fei was even more happy.

There are more than 300 of these people! is still dragging his family, and it seems that he does not plan to return to Europe.

……

"Europe is still at war?"

said that it was a reception, but of course it was impossible for so many people to pull them all together, so after Old Man Fei first sent people to settle down the more than 300 old and young, he asked them to send a few representatives to return to his mansion to talk.

"Yes, Your Excellency. Europe is still at war and shows no signs of stopping! A bearded, silver-haired old man replied after hearing Brom's translation.

"Yes, His Majesty Louis XIV will not admit defeat easily." A younger foreigner continued.

"Throw in the towel? Is the situation in France unfavorable? Old man Fei asked. He still knew a little about the great war caused by the succession to the Spanish throne, but he had the impression that France should be very strong now, and that it should be joined forces with Russia, if not have the upper hand, at least it should be evenly divided.

"Yes. Originally, France was fighting against Russia, the Netherlands, and Spain against the rest of Europe. However, the Russians first made peace with Turkey, then withdrew from the war, and then the Dutch gave up, and before we came, some of the great Spanish nobles united to resist His Majesty Louis XIV, so that France is now almost single-handedly fighting against the whole of Europe! The bearded old man said.

"Strongman!" Old man Fei felt that he admired this Louis XIV a little. More than a dozen, and so many years, what a detain! With this momentum alone, I am afraid that compared to Napoleon, this Louis XIV brother may not be far behind.

"Your Excellency, we left Europe to escape the war, and Father Bai Jin said that you can provide us with what we need! So ......," said another brown-haired middle-aged man with some eagerness.

"Of course. However, you should also know that 'there is no free lunch in the world', and that I can provide you with your basic necessities for the time being, and if you want more, you need to work for me! Old man Fei said.

"This is the way it should be, Priest Bai Jin mentioned it to us before he came. Still, we'd like to know what you need us to do for you. The bearded old man asked again.

"What occupations do you have?" Old man Fei asked again.

"My name is Cabell and I'm a doctor!" The bearded old man pointed first at himself, then at the brown-haired man with a somewhat eager expression, and said, "Mr. Turner is a teacher, and he teaches chemistry and mathematics!" There are three hundred and fifteen of us in all, and in addition to the corresponding old people and children, there are some people in other professions, and I think I can provide you with a list later. ”

“…… That's fine! When the time comes, I will assign your work according to your occupation. Old man Fei was a little worried when he saw this Cabel's expression, and faintly felt that Bai Jin was not recruiting people exactly according to his intentions, but now that these foreigners had just arrived, it was not the time to ask carefully, so he had to put the question in his heart for the time being.

"It's a nuisance. I don't know if there are any production lines or anything like that in the West now, otherwise it would be better to buy a set than now. Old man Fei thought secretly. Many of the skilled workers under him, especially those craftsmen in the artillery factory, although many of them are highly skilled, but they often know what they do but do not know why, and everything is based on experience, which is very unfavorable to future development, but there is nothing he can do now. I wanted to recruit some teachers, but looking at the current situation, it is very likely that Bai Jin's guy is using China as a refugee shelter, what does this treat him Ferdinand? A member of the Red Cross? Are you kidding? He's planning a plot against two "potential enemy countries", and that's going to kill a lot of people!

……

Old man Fei has his own thoughts, and the group of Westerners led by Old Man Cabell are similar, so this conversation didn't last long before it ended. Old man Fei also soon received the news sent by Yang Zhongne.

……

************

Anqing!

The news of the change from Cao Yun to sea spread quickly, and the provincial capitals that had been paying attention to the movements of the capital all learned about the situation in their own time as soon as possible.

However, Ma De did not have time to think about the impact of this news on Anhui, because Wei Dongting came again.

……

"Lord Wei doesn't know what you're here for?"

While inviting the first believer of Kangxi to sit down, Ma De looked at Wei Dongting. Compared with the last time they met, Wei Dongting has obviously aged a lot during this time, and although he is still strong, he has lost his previous spirit.

"Someone Rauma asked. Wei actually came here mainly for two things. Wei Dongting said with a smile.

"Speak!" Mader made a "please" gesture.

"Wei is here, the first thing is to thank you, Master Ma!" Wei Dongting hugged his fist at Ma De and said.

"Thank you? Lord Wei, you're laughing at me. If you hadn't lent me three million taels of silver, I wouldn't have been able to hold on. You've done me a great favor, and I haven't thanked you yet, so why did you thank me first? I can't afford that. Ma De waved his hand again and again.

"Master Ma is welcome, you deserve this 'thanks', and you deserve it!" Wei Dongting smiled first, and then sighed, "If it weren't for Master Ma and you reminding Wei, I'm afraid that Wei and the old brothers Mu, Cao, and Wu would be difficult to behave by then." ”

"Lord Wei, I just said that at the time, why did you lock up Lord Mu Zixu and their affairs again?" Mader asked.

"Master Ma, you're just asking knowingly." Wei Dongting smiled and pointed at Ma De, shook his head and said, "Master Ma, you must not know, right?" I listened to your reminder earlier, I went back to check the accounts, and guess what? ”

"What? ……”

"I, Wei Dongting, actually owe more than 1.7 million taels of silver to the imperial court! There is also Mu Zixu, who owes more than 300,000 taels, the Cao family also has more than 500,000 taels, and Wu Dan, who has already owed more than 100,000 taels in the past few years in Guangdong. A few of our old brothers are all a butt of debts! Wei Dongting smiled bitterly.

"What about you...... Are they all on now? Ma De looked at Wei Dongting's expression, his heart moved, and he couldn't help asking.

"It's a little bit worse. However, it should be possible to pay it all back within the year! Wei Dongting let out a long breath.

"Debt-free and light, Ma De congratulated Master Wei in advance!" Ma De arched his hand towards Wei Dongting and said.

"Thank you!" Wei Dongting also hugged a fist.

……

"May I also ask Lord Wei your second thing!" After a pause, Mader asked again.

"Wei's second thing is to pass on a few words to you, Lord Ma!" Wei Dongting straightened his face and said with a straight face.

"Slaves listen to the hadith!" Unexpectedly, Wei Dongting suddenly made such a move, Ma De scolded secretly, but he had to leave his seat, flick his sleeves and kneel. However, just as he was about to kneel, Wei Dongting stopped him with an arrow.

"Master Ma doesn't have to worry, the emperor has an order, you don't have to kneel down to listen to this message, just let me relay it!"

"Huh? …… Then please Lord Wei, you declare the holy oracle! Ma De was stunned for a moment, and then bowed towards Wei Dongting.

"Hmm!" Wei Dongting nodded slightly, took out a piece of paper from his arms, looked at it, and said to Ma De: "The emperor said, Ma De fought with the salt merchant this time, and finally did not lose the face of the court, although the government and the opposition have criticism, but there has been no major incident, and it should be rewarded, but there are too many things in the court now, and Cao Yun has just been abolished, and it is inevitable that there will be people who are not convinced by the hundred officials, if you mention this matter now, it is easy for you to be jealous of the hundred officials, so the emperor will not mention the reward for the time being." Don't let you go to your heart, there will be compensation in the future. ”

"The minions don't dare. Doing your best for the emperor is the duty of a slave, and I don't dare to ask for credit! Ma De hurriedly replied.

The emperor also said that the officials of Anhui Tong Province can work together this time, and he is very relieved. Therefore, the emperor decided to select a group of officials from Anhui. Wei Dongting continued.

"Selection of officials?"

"Not bad. The emperor asked me to tell you that there will be a holy decree in the near future, and Shi Shilun, the envoy of Anhui, will be transferred to the Shuntian Mansion Yin and the head of the Criminal Department; Liu Yingxia, Anhui Grain Road, will be transferred to Guizhou as the political envoy; Zhang Kai, the prefect of Anqing, was promoted to the imperial envoy of Jiangnan Province; Fengyang prefect Li Lan was promoted to the post of general envoy of Jiangsu. If you prepare in advance, you will first nominate someone who can take over, and the emperor will take care of it as appropriate. Wei Dongting said expressionlessly.

“……”

"Master Ma, there's one more thing I forgot to tell you. The emperor has decreed that the new Lianghuai salt transport envoy Yu Heng will be promoted to the governor of Jiangxi! Seeing Ma De's stunned expression, Wei Dongting paused and said another piece of news to him.

"Jiangxi?"

"That's right. It's Jiangxi! ”

"Jiangxi Governor Yu Heng, Jiangsu General Political Envoy Li Lan, Jiangnan Provincial Imperial Envoy Zhang Kai、...... Anhui political envoy Lu Longqi! Ma De slowly chewed on the names and official positions, and suddenly raised his head to look at Wei Dongting.

"You understand?" Wei Dongting smiled: "That's right. The emperor has already decided, and after a while, he will appoint you as the governor of Jiangnan. The governor of Anhui will be succeeded by Lu Longqi! ”