Chapter 21 Hong Chengchou returns to Beijing

Author: Scholar Wu

Chapter 21 Hong Chengchou returns to Beijing

In the past few days, news of Xia Wanchun's disappearance and Taihu water bandits' rebellion and the capture of Taicang and Kunshan came one after another. Hong Chengchou had already suspected Xia Wanchun and was preparing to organize an army to encircle and suppress him.

However, later came the news that the bandit leader "Langli Fei" had been captured, his lair had been destroyed, and the Taihu water bandits had been wiped out. This made Hong Chengchou and Ma Guozhu feel a lot more relaxed.

Although they knew that there was something wrong with the heads of the bandits sent by Yang Wenqi, there was no doubt that the heads of the bandit leaders "Langli Fei" and "Zhi Duoxing" were indeed their own. The water bandits' lairs had indeed been destroyed after several previous sieges and suppressions failed.

He only turned a blind eye when he was beheaded, and Yang Wenqi was promoted to the position of Wu Song's commander-in-chief because of his merit.

After all, the people's sentiments are currently unstable, and anti-Qing forces in various places are ready to move. Such actions that quickly put down the rebellion must be heavily rewarded, so as to set a positive example.

Hong Chengchou: "Sanmu, has Qian Mo done anything unusual recently?"

Xie Sanmu: "Reporting to Dong Weng, Qian Mo has been at the Governor's Mansion since he shaved his head. Unless he was summoned by you, he never leaves the house. The same goes for his father, who has no contact with the outside world."

"Now Qian Mo has become the target of verbal and written criticism from the remnants of the former Ming Dynasty. I'm afraid that going out to visit friends is asking for trouble!"

Hong Chengchou said: "This son is very scheming. He must have seen the doubts in my heart, so he is like this. Xia Wanchun disappeared without any reason, and I still feel uneasy."

"But I'm about to return to Beijing. You can't take Qian Mo lightly. If he has evil intentions, he will definitely take action after I leave. If he has any objections, you don't have to be soft-hearted then."

Xie Sanmu: "Don't worry, Dong Weng, Sanmu will definitely keep an eye on Qian Mo and won't let him take advantage of him."

A few days later, Hong Chengchou received the order to return to Beijing and invited Qian Mo to come to discuss the matter.

I'm about to return to Beijing with an order, so I need to hurry up and make good use of this silver. I don't know which route I should take this time?

Qian Mo said: "There are only two routes for transporting silver to the capital this time."

"The safest route is to take the canal and transport it directly to the capital. Moreover, all the way north of the canal is the area controlled by the Qing Dynasty. Although there are many rogue bandits, as long as they are heavily guarded, these rogue bandits are powerless."

"The most convenient way is to transport by sea, directly out of the Yangtze River to Tianjin, and then to the capital. The sea route is very convenient and much faster than taking the canal, but the maritime risks are extremely high. Both King Lu and Zheng Chenggong have strong maritime

Strength, we can’t afford to take this risk!”

Therefore, the students thought: ""It is safer to go north via the canal, and it requires heavy guarding."

Hong Chengchou was very satisfied with this answer, which at least showed that Qian Mo had no evil intentions.

In fact, Hong Chengchou himself chose this route.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River did not enter the sea in Shandong as it does today. Instead, it entered the sea through the Sishui River and the Huaihe River, passing through Xuzhou and Huai'an. This is the so-called "seizing the Huaihe River and entering the sea."

Years of war and the Yellow River bursting its banks many times have resulted in many sections of the Grand Canal being silted up. If some sections of the river are dredged during the flood season, it can still be passed through.

It is now the 10th month of the lunar calendar, and all river sections have entered the dry season. The water level of the canal has also been greatly reduced. Some sections of the river cannot be passed by silver boats with a deep draft.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou had previously ordered the prefects of Yangzhou and Huai'an to dredge the relevant channels of the canal, and arranged a large number of boat trackers along the way. This is also the reason why the silver has not been shipped for a long time.

Now that he was about to return to Beijing, Hong Chengchou immediately appointed Qian Mo as the chief escort for this time, and arranged for his confidant Xie Sanmu to join Jiangning Governor Zhou Boda to lead 3,000 elite troops to escort the silver coins to Beijing.

Qian Mo immediately said: "Thank you for your mentor's training. This student will definitely fulfill his mission and deliver the money safely!"

"However, although we are heavily guarded along the way this time, the temptation of 5 million taels of silver is too great. In addition, there are many bandits along the way, so it is inevitable that some people will be interested in making money. The students think that we can "build the plank road openly and covertly build the warehouse." We will send a group of people on the bright side.

A fleet of ships traveled by sea to act as suspects to attract the attention of thieves all over the world. Then they secretly transported the silver north along the canal to the capital."

After thinking for a while, Hong Chengchou said: "I am still not as considerate as I thought. I am about to go to Beijing as a teacher. Master Xie and Governor Zhou will arrange all the necessary things for you. This time I don't want to donate 500W taels of silver, and the emperor and regent will definitely appreciate it."

With grace, sir, please go to Beijing together to receive the title!"

Qian Mo cursed secretly in his heart: "The old fox is the old fox, he wants dad to go to Beijing as a hostage."

At this time, to outsiders, Hong Chengchou and Qian Mo already looked like a master-disciple, but Qian Mo knew that the old thief Hong had never relaxed his vigilance towards him.

Although as a person of later generations, Qian Mo was familiar with historical trends, had a God's perspective, and successfully defeated Hong Chengchou in the "World Game". But this Hong Chengchou who worked for the Manchus wholeheartedly, and was both civil and military, was undoubtedly Qian Mo in this time and space.

The person you least want to face.

Although he shaved his head in public and became a disciple, he did his best to clean up the old thief despite being infamy, and even donated 5 million taels of silver to the Qing court. Now it seems that the old thief Hong still does not completely trust him, and Qian Mo also has something in his heart at this time.

Shaken. This Hong Chengchou is much more powerful than King Min of Qi, but he does not have Su Qin's determination to face death. Can he really turn the Qing Dynasty upside down like Su Qin did?

Zheng Zhilong's contribution to betraying the Longwu court and contributing to Fujian was much greater than his own. Today, he is still trapped in Beijing by the Manchus. Compared to Hong Chengchou, who is ruthless and ruthless, he is obviously much more immature. It would be better to escape as soon as possible if possible.

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Chapter completed!