After exiting the flower hall, Lin Fu had a frown on his face. He didn't expect this to happen. He knew that the Xiao family's wife was a hot target, but Mrs. Gu insisted that he take the next step, and he couldn't let it go.
Lin Fu thought that there was still half a bowl of rice left to eat, so he went back to the stern cabin. Everyone else had finished eating and left. Only Zhou Pu was sitting there waiting for him. Lin Fu smiled bitterly at him and said: "Put something on the table.
It’s hard work, Mrs. Gu’s home is very tightly guarded, the Xiao family’s wife has no place in the Gu family, I have to take her back to be a cook..."
"Can you help with the laundry?" Zhou Pu laughed heartlessly. He was used to squatting on a bench when no one was around.
"It is specified that there will be extra money." Lin Fu picked up his bowl of leftover rice and ate the leftovers. While eating, he discussed the matter with Zhou Pu, "Looking at this itinerary, the Gu family will stay in a posthouse outside Jiangning City.
In the past few days, we will choose a good and auspicious day to enter the city. We can't waste time with them in the post house. You and Enze will ride to Jiangning first. If you can find the fourth lady, Miss Su will say something. After the boat arrives at the post house,
I can say goodbye to the Gu family. It should be dark by then. Zhao Hu and I can't enter the city. We will stay in the post house for one night and meet you again when we enter the city tomorrow..."
"Sure, Enze and I will leave first..." Zhou Pu nodded in response.
Lin Fu swept down the leftovers and leftovers on the table. A servant came in to clean them up, and he and Zhou Pu walked out of the cabin.
Normally servants could only move around at the stern of the ship waiting for orders. Yang Pu and Ma Chao were nowhere to be seen. They thought they were going in to listen to Gu Wuchen's orders. Liu Xilin came ashore with his cavalry. Lin Fu squinted at these Dongyang Mansion.
The cavalry under the Bingma Division seemed to be undisciplined, but they were not as sluggish as the general army. The journey for the past three days was quite difficult, but the soldiers did not complain and their morale was low. Lin Fu said to Zhou Pu: "
It seems very rare..."
"This Shen Rong, the prefect of Dongyang Prefecture, is quite famous. Mr. Qin has talked about him," Zhou Pu said. He had sharp eyes and knew that the cavalry led by Liu Xilin was an elite with strict discipline and combat effectiveness. "Mr. Qin said that the DPRK
Someone called on the imperial court to revitalize the local government army. In the south, Shen Rong, the prefect of Dongyang Prefecture, and Dong Yuan, the prefect of Weiyang Prefecture, were the representatives of the anti-theft department. I heard that Li Zhuo listened to Dong Yuan's suggestion and reported to the imperial court to implement it...
Shen Rong and Dong Yuan can't shout loudly now, but there should be some achievements under their rule."
Lin Fu looked at the figures of the cavalry among the old willows on the shore, thinking that the so-called serious illness is difficult to recover from. The Dai Viet Dynasty is about to rot, with internal and external troubles, natural and man-made disasters, and it cannot be helped by one or two loyal and capable ministers.
Then he said that this army was under the command of the military and horse departments of each local government. It was responsible for supervising grain, tax, canal, and all kinds of personnel needed by officials and private individuals. They were all sent out. In fact, they were no different from the handymen. How could they not be weak in combat power?
? Even with a little rectification of the troops, they could barely maintain public order in the city. The bandits in the countryside could only be suppressed and eliminated by the rural soldiers, which also led to the rise of local powerful men.
Lin Fu also paid attention to current affairs these days and knew that Shen Rong and Dong Yuan's strategy of revitalizing the government army was to recruit local rural soldiers to fill the army and horse departments of each government, so that more powerful rural soldiers could replace the original weak and old soldiers.
The government army, but the powerful forces in various places have become invincible, how can they easily hand over the rural soldiers and warriors who have the nature of private soldiers to the government's control?
At this time, there were endless wars in the border areas, people in the Central Plains were in trouble, and large groups of bandits were roaming the local areas. If the local governments forced the recruitment of rural soldiers, it would inevitably intensify the conflicts and add to the chaos. This was exactly what the imperial court did not dare to take risks at this time.
Lin Fu shook his head slightly. Even if Shen Rong had the ambition to revitalize the government army, the Liu Xilin he found could be regarded as a general, but if he was not given time, his achievements would be limited.
"What are you waiting for, Lin Juren?" Gu Siming came from behind, put his hand on Lin Fu's shoulder cordially, and said, "Lin Juren, I want to discuss something with you, and you have to agree to it."
There was little news in the countryside. Gu Siming didn't know what happened in the forest a few days ago. He just assumed that Lin Fu was still the Lin Fu he heard about before. He relied on the fact that he was Gu Wuchen's close nephew, so he usually didn't let Lin Fu go. In his eyes, Lin Fu saw that his attitude suddenly became eager. He didn't expect that he would ask for anything, so he asked: "What's the matter?" There was a worried look on his face, and I wondered if it had something to do with her.
"Let's go to the side to talk." Gu Siming put his arms around Lin Fu's shoulders and pulled him to the side of the ship. "I heard that my aunt sent the Xiao family's wife to you. I'll discuss it with you. After I arrive in Jiangning, there will be no one to take care of me." , can you give me the Xiao family's wife? I came out of Shiliang County with forty taels of silver, and I will give you half of it."
Lin Fu looked at Gu Siming's triangular eyes, young age, waxy complexion, pointed chin and monkey cheeks. He really reminded Miss Liang of the Xiao family, and said: "Young Master Tang, you look at me as if I don't know. A good person?"
"I knew you were interesting..." Gu Siming smiled happily, "Don't you just want to go to Jiangning and find a good career? Don't worry, I will definitely put in a nice word for you in front of my uncle."
Lin Fu waited patiently for Gu Siming to finish his promise, then said with a smile: "Do you think I would exchange my wife's kindness to me for twenty taels of silver without any good intentions?"
Gu Siming was slightly startled, looked at the joking smile on Lin Fu's face, and changed his face and said: "You know what's good and what's good! Just wait, does my uncle and aunt treat me as a nephew, or you, who has fought with my Gu family for dozens of times?" Young Lin family child!" He walked away humiliated.
Lin Fu shook his head slightly, thinking that beautiful women are a disaster.
Watching Gu Siming get into the cabin, the Xiao family's wife came over, bowed her body and said in a soft voice: "Thank you, Mr. Lin, for taking the slave family..."
"Since you are not happy to be the cook, why did you come on the boat?" Lin Fu asked puzzledly.
"How can I do anything by myself?" Mrs. Xiao's wife said sadly, "I rushed back to my parents' house. Fortunately, I was still of some use and helped out at the teahouse, so my parents, brothers and sisters-in-law took me in with kindness. ----The county magistrate sent someone to send twenty taels of silver and said that he would give another twenty taels of silver every year. As long as I work as a cook for the Gu family, Mr. Lin, do you think I can still stay in Shiliang County?"
Lin Fu sighed slightly. It turned out that the three taels of silver were just Liang Zuoren's words to increase his leverage in Gu Wuchen's mind. These days, twenty taels of silver can buy a pretty girl, let alone force a young widow to be a concubine? Thinking about it. After Gu Wuchen brought the Xiao family's young lady into his room, Liang Zuoren no longer needed to send money to the Xiao family's wife's family every year.
"Madam of the Xiao family, since Liang Zuoren is willing to pay this unjust money, let him pay this unjust money," Lin Fu said, "Let's do this. After we go to Jiangning, I will prepare a small courtyard for you, and you can live with the four of us. If it’s inconvenient, then I’ll have to trouble you with daily chores like cooking and cooking…”
"If I had known that Mr. Lin was a gentleman, I would have thanked Mr. Lin for taking him in. All the chores such as washing and cooking were all my responsibility." Mrs. Xiao's mind dropped, and her beautiful face was radiant, adding to her beauty. She hesitated.
After a moment, he whispered again, "My maiden name is Liu and my nickname is Yue'er. Master Lin can just call me by my nickname..."
"I didn't expect you and Deputy Lieutenant Liu to be the same family..." Lin Fu said with a smile. After a thousand years, men and women would not be able to rent together. He planned to prepare a courtyard specifically for Liu Yue'er, not for any other reason.
It was made for Gu Wuchen to see. Lin Fu could tell that Gu Wuchen was still thinking about Liu Yue'er, and he also knew that with Mrs. Gu here, Gu Wuchen would not want to take a concubine in this life, but no matter what, he showed a clear mind to himself.
The posture can make Gu Wuchen feel better, and there is another thought. Being able to rely on Gu Wuchen, a big tree, in Jiangning will make many things much easier.
Liu Yue'er stood on the bow of the boat talking to Lin Fu. At this moment, many people knew that this beautiful little widow was going to work as a cook with Lin Fu. Everyone was jealous in their hearts and looked at Lin Fu with envy.
No problem.
At this moment, a fleet of ships came from the north. The ships were loaded with cargo and had a deep draft. The pilot ship had a flagpole on its bow and hung the triangular flag of the Wu Feng Escort Bureau. The fleet also noticed that this was an official ship and set the escort flag.
Lower the flagpole halfway to show respect.
The bow deck at the head of the ship is relatively open, and there are two rows of well-dressed warriors standing with swords at their waists, which is really majestic.
Zhou Pu pouted and said towards the escort flag: "This is the largest escort agency in the four counties of Jianghuai. Not only the residence of Jiangning Fuyin hired martial arts masters from Wu Feng to serve as guards, but even the officials from Jiangdong, Lianghu and other counties were escorted to Yanjing.
Please ask Wu Feng to transport the silver and tax money on your behalf..."
Lin Fu laughed, thinking that Zhou Pu and the others had probably been frustrated because they had beaten Wu Feng Escort. Jiangdong was still the main exporter of Yanjing's grain, but occasionally the Huaihe River burst its banks in autumn, causing river siltation, or
Severe droughts have made rivers shallow, and grain cannot go north in time. In order to avoid delays, Jiangdong often uses silver instead of grain to transport grain to the capital. One trip usually contains hundreds of thousands of taels of silver ingots. Lin Fu thought to Zhou Pu and the others
They are so courageous. If hundreds of thousands of taels of tax money are robbed and the waterway from Jiangdong to Yanjing is cut off, the government can mobilize tens of thousands of troops to encircle and suppress them.
At this time, the fleet escorted by the Escort Bureau was approaching. There was a young man in brocade clothes standing on the bow deck of the pilot ship. He probably saw the gold-painted black head paint sign on the bow of the ship and shouted to this side: "On board is Jiangdong Inspector Gu.
grown ups?"
The ship here was parked, but it was impossible for the fleet to stop suddenly. Hearing someone shouting Gu Wuchen's name outside, Yang Pu's son Yang Shi got out of the cabin to see what was going on. The bow of the ship over there was already more than half of the hull, and that was
The young man in golden clothes leaned out half of the side of the boat and greeted loudly: "Yang Shi, it's me. I thought you had arrived in Jiangning earlier! Si Yuan, are Jun Xun also on the boat? Forget it, it's inconvenient for the boat to stop here. We
See you in Jiangning."
Lin Fu thought to himself that this young man might be a family friend of the Gu family, otherwise he would not call Miss Gu by her given name.
This young man in brocade clothes is probably the son of some official. This Jiangning is originally a place where many officials and riches gather. The prefect of other places is a middle-level official of the fourth rank, but the governor of Jiangning is a high-ranking official of the third rank. Together with the Jiangdong Xuanfu envoy,
The equal ranking of the Jiangdong Inspector and the Jiangdong Admiral actually separated the Jiangning Mansion from the jurisdiction of the Jiangdong Xuanfu Envoy Department. Its civil affairs, criminal prisons, supervision and other affairs were directly responsible to central agencies such as Jiangning's Sixth Ministry and Three Yuan. This is probably also to exclude
The only way for the disgraced officials to serve as mausoleum guards in Jiangning was to save some face in front of Yanjing's political enemies. In addition, the military garrison of Jiangning Mansion was not under the jurisdiction of the Jiangdong Admiral Mansion. There was also a second-rank Jiangning garrison general. To talk about the town
There are still some elite troops in the Jianghuai area, which is probably the 30,000 garrison under the jurisdiction of the Jiangning garrison general. In addition, the Jiangning garrison general is usually added to the Jiangning Ministry of War Shangshu title, which in turn has control over the Jiangdong Admiral's Mansion. Generally speaking,
Only the Shangshu of the Jiangning Ministry of War and the Jiangning garrison general are regarded as the leaders of Jiangdong officials. There are rumors in both the government and the public that the imperial court is very likely to let Li Zhuo, the governor of Eastern Fujian who has served the Anshe family of Jin, sit in Jiangning and serve as the Jiangning garrison general and the Jiangning Ministry of War Shangshu.
title.
The officialdom in Jiangdong is much more complicated than in other places.