After Huai'an Prefecture received the report from Hongze County, they did not dare to neglect it. The prefect ordered the garrison to quickly gather troops and rush to Hongze County. The governor's office of water transport stationed a battalion of naval forces near Hongze County, and the leader was Xia Jinfeng's brother.
When Xia Jinbiao heard that something was going on in his brother-in-law's county, he immediately beat drums and gathered troops, and took several fast boats along the waterway to go straight to Hongze County.
Hongze County is nearly a hundred miles away from Huai'an Prefecture. This round trip plus the reorganization of troops and horses takes a lot of time, and it is not as fast as the navy from the Canal Transport Yamen.
The duty of the water transport navy is to protect the safety of the canal channel, detect smuggled salt and smuggled goods, and collect fishing fees, which is somewhat similar to the water police. Hongze Lake is also an integral part of the canal channel, so Hongze Wharf and they are regular
They come and go frequently. I heard that there were rebel gangs appearing in Hongze. The navy soldiers were very excited. It would be a great achievement to catch a few gangsters and send them to Beijing to ask for credit. They hurriedly rowed here.
After arriving at the pier, I was surprised to find that Hongze Pier today is very different from the past.
The official ship of the Imperial Yangtze River Navy was moored at the pier, as well as a steam clipper under the banner of Nanchang. The entire pier was busy, and it was almost dusk. Three extremely bright arc lights were hung on the mast of the largest ship.
, the dock was illuminated brightly, and groups of eunuchs, maids, and soldiers were carrying various ceremonial guards down from the ship. It turned out that after the capital received the telegram, Song Yingxing immediately entered the palace and told Zhu Youxiao the news,
Zhu Youxiao did not even attend the morning court, but dispatched an airship to rush to Hongze. At the same time, he ordered Wei Zhongxian to rush over by boat with a full guard of honor.
Wei Zhongxian just sent out an order yesterday to search for the old people in the palace ten years ago. They didn't even call in the people here to ask questions. The Nanchang has already found the Crown Princess and the eldest princess. This is too fast. There is no point in complaining now.
It's too late, so we can only finish the errands assigned by the emperor as soon as possible. There are no preparations for the imperial concubine's honor guard in the palace. However, the queen's honor guard is indeed brand new. It was purchased by the emperor for his wedding. According to the ancestral system, the empress' honor guard is the same as the emperor's honor guard.
The ceremony of the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother are the same. Now that the Queen Mother has fallen, it is almost certain that the new concubine will ascend to the throne of the Queen Mother, so there should be no big problem in a small overstep. Now for the Dowager and the Queen Mother
It was too late for the princess to make the clothes, so she had to take out a dozen sets of satin clothes of different specifications from the storehouse.
Wei Zhongxian drove the eunuchs and maids around like a ghost, moved the queen's ceremonial guard out of the storehouse, and put together a set of princess ceremonial guards. The maids saw that the ceremonial guard was covered with dust and wanted to wipe it clean, but Wei Zhongxian was
He kicked him over with one kick: "What time has it been? Let's wipe it after we get on the boat!"
With the help of thousands of imperial troops, these honor guards were quickly moved to Shuiximen Wharf for shipment. All the people of the East Factory were dispatched to drive away all kinds of civilian ships on the dock. The warships of the Yangtze River Navy and the ships of the South Factory were
The steamer came to help. After the honor guards and people boarded the ship in a mess, they quickly lifted anchor and rushed to Hongze. Along the way, the navy officers and soldiers held loudspeakers and kept shouting on the bow of the ship, asking all the ships on the waterway to avoid and give way.
The merchant ship and passenger ship saw it was a naval warship with the Dongchang banner flying on the ship. Who dared to block the way? They hurriedly hurriedly and slowly arrived at Hongze County in the evening.
The people of Hongze County have lost interest in the dragon in the sky, because several more of the same dragon have arrived one after another. Officials from above have spread all over the streets and alleys of Hongze County. The emperor's airship arrived in the afternoon.
, Zhu Youxiao, led by Liu Ziguang who came to pick him up, hurried to the door of Nanfei's house. The place was under full martial law. The dirt road was sprinkled with water and covered with red felt. Zhu Youxiao looked nervous and stood on the wood.
I didn't dare to go in at the door, my lips were trembling and I didn't know what to say.
"Your Majesty, the concubine is waiting for you inside." Liu Ziguang reminded gently.
Zhu Youxiao gathered his emotions, lifted up his dragon robe and knelt at the door, saying in a slightly hoarse voice with excitement: "My son, I pay my respects to my mother and concubine."
"Your Majesty..." With a cry in a cry, the Chaimen was opened. A woman with such a familiar face had her hands spread out. She had already stood up from the chair and walked towards the door to greet her. Behind her was a timid girl.
Also followed closely.
"Mother~~" Zhu Youxiao couldn't control his emotions anymore and rushed over to hug the woman. The mother and son held each other's arms and cried, their cries heartbreaking.
Liu Ziguang waved his hand, and everyone else in the small courtyard quietly retreated, carefully closing the firewood door, and allowed the miserable mother, son, brother and sister to have a good cry.
"Sir, why are the circles under your eyes red?" Ma Saiyou asked Liu Ziguang in a disapproving manner.
"It's okay, Feng Da was confused." Liu Ziguang took out two cigars, threw one to Ma Saiyou and said, "A ruthless man may not be a hero. How can you not be a husband if you have a pity? Xiao Ma, where is your mother?"
Having said this, Masaiu's eye circles were a little red, and the two of them squatted at the door, smoking cigars and making house calls in the background of crying in the yard.
After crying for a while, the mother and son finally stopped crying. Zhu Youxiao said: "Mom, today is a great day for our mother, son, sister and brother to reunite. Let's not cry. We should laugh."
Concubine Nan wiped her tears and said, "Yes, we won't cry. Cheng'er, move a chair for your brother."
After all, they were siblings from the same mother. Zeng Cheng didn't feel unfamiliar with this younger brother who suddenly appeared. He quickly moved a chair over for Zhu Youxiao to sit on, and asked with concern: "Brother, what are you doing?"
Are you hungry? My sister will serve you some food. There are also lunch dishes here, all of which are good with meat."
"Sister Huang, please sit down. My brother is not hungry." Zhu Youxiao saw his sister's hands covered with calluses and blood blisters. He felt distressed and wanted to cry. He walked to the kitchen and looked at the low shack, which was dark and dark.
He opened the big iron pot on the stove, and there was still the gruel left in the morning. Looking back at the patched coarse cloth clothes on his mother and sister, the young man felt as if his heart had been pricked by a needle!
These are the two most noble and golden women in the world. The biological mother and sister of the emperor of today are living such a poor and miserable life in this remote country. It is because they are useless as sons, even though they are the emperor.
, but cannot protect his loved ones...
"Mom, do you and your sister usually eat this?" Zhu Youxiao asked in a trembling voice.
"My mother borrowed these from a neighbor's house. Our family doesn't even have food for the night." Zeng Cheng rushed to answer.
Zhu Youxiao was even more speechless. He remained silent for a while and said, "I'd better drink a bowl of porridge and taste the hard life that my mother and sister lived."
When Wei Zhongxian and his group arrived, the emperor had already gone to bed and stayed in the dilapidated courtyard where Nan Fei lived. Now it was a serious palace, with guards from Ouchi, Nanchang, and Dongchang all in attendance.
Surrounded, the royal chefs who came with the ship rushed to prepare supper for the emperor. Whether the emperor and the others would eat or not was one thing. The key was that the rules should not be messed up. The royal tailors modified the clothes overnight to make them more suitable for the concubines and princesses.
At least five thousand people came to the small Hongze County, and there was an endless stream of servants unloading goods on the pier, and they were all well-dressed people from the capital, and everything they saw was brocade robes, flying fish suits, and the common people didn't know
What happened? I only dared to stand at the door and watch curiously. Not only the common people had never seen this kind of scene, but also the county government officials had never seen this kind of scene. There were so many people coming from the capital. Except for some people who lived on the boat, the rest
Requisitioning all the inns in the county seat was not enough, so they even occupied the county government office.
Xia Jinfeng was kicked out from the backyard of the Yamen by Dongchang gangsters. Although she was angry, she did not dare to say anything. After all, Dongchang's reputation was too great.
Xia Jinfeng led a group of women and government servants out of the yard, and met her brother Xia Jinbiao.
"Sister, what's going on in the county? There are so many official ships on the pier that our water transport yamen ships have no place to dock." Xia Jinbiao asked.
"A big shot has come to Beijing and has arrested your brother-in-law. Now we don't know whether he is alive or dead. Brother, please quickly lead the troops to rescue him."
"I see that there is not only the flag of Dongchang but also the flag of Nachang on that boat. Could it be that those two big shots are here?" Xia Jinbiao hesitated to agree.
"Why did Uncle Zhenwu arrest your brother-in-law? This earl is not the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so why should he arrest the county magistrate?" Although Xia Jinfeng was immersed in it and knew some things in the officialdom, she was a woman after all. How could she understand Nan?
The factory is awesome.
"Uncle Zhenwu really caught him?" Xia Jinbiao took a breath, "Sister, let's not save this person."
Early the next morning, soldiers and horses from Huai'an Prefecture also arrived. The prefect raised troops and came. Unexpectedly, the scene before him shocked him. The entire Hongze County had been taken over. The golden dragon flag representing the dignity of the royal family was flying above the city.
Standing on the city wall and at the city gate are all Han generals with golden helmets. The inside of the small city is full of yellow lids, red umbrellas, pheasant fans, letter flags, leopard tails, feather banners, golden festivals, and candles.
Cage these ceremonial guards used by the emperor.
"Good boy, this is the arrival of the Holy Master." The prefect of Huai'an said to the guards who came with him.