Chapter 278 The four giants collude with each other
Hangzhou, Governor's Mansion.
The new governor Pan Yinglou had just arrived from Jiangning. As soon as he entered the city, he came to pay homage to the governor Li Yuchun. Zheng Jiwu, who was the first to regain Hangzhou, was also newly appointed governor.
The three of them sat together for a meeting.
Sitting in the governor's seat, Li Yuchun's eyebrows were full of joy. He never expected that his official career would be so smooth and he would rise to the top.
It seems that after I left Hangzhou last time, I took off when I met Nine Kings.
Jiu Wang and Yan Wo Gong are his two noble men. Jiu Wang has always given him achievements, and Yan Wo Gong helps him plan, and now he even directly invites him to serve.
Governor, the Qing Dynasty is of the second rank.
Although the imperial court did not give him the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, only the right minister of the Ministry of War and the right deputy censor of the capital, he was still a second-rank official. Not to mention that in the text given to him by Yan Wogong, the full title of the governor was Governor of Zhejiang and Admiral of Military Affairs of the two places in Fujian.
, food and salary, river management and governor affairs.
He also oversaw more Fujian provinces than Zhang Cunren did before, and was the governor-general of two provinces.
Although Fujian was still in the hands of the Ming army and Zhejiang only had three prefectures, wouldn't the name of one more province be more resounding?
"How to deal with the thief Zhu Guofan?" Li Yuchun asked the newcomer Pan Yinglou.
He didn't have much friendship with Pan Yinglou. Although Pan was the governor of Hangzhou before and he was the deputy commander-in-chief, he was stationed outside the city instead of in the city. Later he went to Jiaxing and met again. Now they are governors and governors.
He secretly thought that Pan Yinglou was really lucky. Even Zhang Cunren and Xiao Qiyuan were killed, and he also ran to Jiangning, but he was still promoted to governor. However, it was rumored that this guy had a background in Beijing. The great scholar Feng Quan was his uncle, and now he is deeply
He won the trust of the regent Dorgon. Of course, there were also rumors that Pan Yinglou had secretly smuggled in Yuhang before and was very involved. The Ming army attacked Hangzhou with Yuhang as the breakthrough point.
But if the higher-ups don't care about this kind of thing, it's impossible for him to say anything about it.
Pan Yinglou also never expected that after boarding the pirate ship, his career would take off.
He looked at Li Yuchun, and then at the admiral Zheng Jiwu who had a dark face and said nothing, "Although Zhu Guofan is a thief who is capricious, he also has the advantage of being obedient, and he is really good at appeasing the people. Nowadays in Hangzhou
New restoration, a lot of waste is waiting to be revitalized, and post-war reconstruction requires manpower. When I was in Jiangning, I asked Yan Jinglue for instructions, and Duke Yan meant that Zhu Guofan could be punished and meritorious."
When Li Yuchun heard what Mr. Yan meant, he immediately changed his attitude, "Well, Magistrate Zhu is indeed very rare. He pretends to be a thief, but in fact he is preserving his strength. Let him be the magistrate."
"Gong Yan's wish is that Zhu Guofan can temporarily take over the post of chief envoy."
Li Yuchun was stunned.
Is this guilt or merit?
If you surrender Hangzhou to the thieves, will you be promoted to the second rank of Chief Envoy?
Pan Yinglou calmly took out a piece of paper and pushed it in front of him.
"Master Zhu is very sincere."
Li Yuchun glanced sideways and found that there were only a few simple words on the paper, expressing his gratitude and offering him ten thousand taels of silver.
"Prefect Zhu is quite rich."
Pan Yinglou chuckled and said, "This person knows both Huzhou and Hangzhou. These are both rich counties in the south of the Yangtze River. He has been in office several times, but he has retained his official position. He must have saved his wealth."
"Is this money for us three?" Li Yuchun asked directly.
"It's for the Governor and the Admiral."
Li Yuchun thought he would get ten thousand taels, but then he thought, it would not be bad to divide it among three people. A few thousand taels are just a few thousand taels. No matter how small the mosquito legs are, they are still meat. In the past few months, Li Yuchun has had a huge appetite. Normally, one thousand eight hundred taels
I can't even see two silver coins.
"Then let's split it up together."
He talked about dividing the spoils in a normal way, without feeling that there was anything to be cautious about. Being an official these days is not for money, so who can be an official?
All three of them were once civil servants and military generals in the Ming Dynasty, but now they have become the Three Giants of Hangzhou in the Qing Dynasty.
Haining Marquis Zheng Jiwu said, "The Governor will take half, and Pan Fuyuan and I will divide the remaining half."
"Let's split it equally."
Finally, Pan Yinglou suggested that Li Yuchun should take four thousand, and he and Zheng Jiwu should each take three thousand. As the governor, he was originally above the admiral, but now he would take the same amount as Zheng Jiwu, and it would also give Zheng Jiwu face.
So the two of them pretended to decline and accepted it with a smile. Although it was just a piece of paper, Zhu Guofan would naturally send the money later.
"Let Zhu Guofan take over the Chief Envoy's Office, and do it well. You won't surrender the enemy again. Otherwise, you will not be trusted by Duke Yan. I will be the first to take his head when the time comes."
The first thing the three of them did when they took office was to share the 10,000 taels of silver sent by the prefect Zhu Guofan.
As for the rest, there is no rush.
No one even mentioned whether we should attack the Ming army and regain lost territory.
Nominally Hangzhou was captured by Zheng Jiwu, but in fact it was the Ming army who took the initiative to withdraw from Zhu Guofan's Kaicheng to welcome the army into the city. However, after the Ming army left Hangzhou, cities such as Yuhang and Lin'an in the west are still in their hands.
It's just that the suburban towns of Qitang and Linping have been recaptured by them, or the army has given up on their own initiative.
Zhu Guofan was summoned.
From now on, he is the Chief Envoy of Zhejiang. He has been promoted from a second-grade official to a high official. Normally, he is a prefect and is usually promoted to Taoist. Unless under very special circumstances, he can be promoted to the third-grade Salt Transport Envoy, or
He is the inspector of the third rank.
A few months ago, Zhu Guofan was a fellow magistrate of Huzhou. After surrendering and submitting five or six times, he actually became the second-rank chief envoy.
"Fantai, now that Hangzhou has been recovered, what are the most urgent things that need to be resolved?"
Zhu Guofan's chubby face showed the calmness of a harmless human and animal.
"The official believes that the most urgent problem in Hangzhou now is food. In the past few months, the Ming army has besieged the city, and there was a tragic scene of cannibalism in the city. Later, the Ming army entered the city and transported food into the city, but it was only barely able to survive. Now the Ming army has escaped.
, I asked my official to know that before they left, they transported all the grain from the granaries around Beishiguan, Qitang, and Linping. Now the people of Hangzhou have no rice for cooking tomorrow."
"The price of food on the black market has skyrocketed again. A stone and rice cost ten taels of silver. People have been reported missing again. Rice and meat have appeared on the black market again. We must find a way to transport food into the city, otherwise the people of Hangzhou will abandon the city and flee."
"I sincerely request Governor Li and Admiral Zheng to first allocate some military rations to provide for the people, and also ask Governor Pan to immediately lend emergency rations to Hujia, Susong and other places."
Li Yuchun said, "There are more than a million people in Hangzhou and outside the city, but I only have 12,000 troops under my command. I am busy this time and I don't bring much rations with me to feed the people. So what do my brothers eat?"
"
Zheng Jiwu was the first to enter the city. He also knew the situation in Hangzhou, but he had the same attitude. His army rations were only enough for half a month and could not be withdrawn.
Pan Yinglou also had a severe headache. "Huzhou has been in the hands of thieves for a long time. It must have been looted and depleted of food. When I passed by, they asked me for food. Jiaxing was originally guarded by Admiral Zheng. I don't know if food can be obtained from there."
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"Over in Jiaxing, there is no food in the official warehouses, and the people still have some on hand, but the price of food is very high now, and is there still money in the government offices?"
There was still a lot of money in the yamen, and the Ming army moved even mice.
Now Hangzhou and Huzhou are the same as all the prefectures and counties. They have been completely evacuated by the Ming army.
During the siege of Hangzhou before, the food from the rich people's homes was forcibly confiscated. Now the government has no money and no food, and the people have no food.
"What should we do?"
Pan Yinglou tentatively said, "There must be a lot of food in Yuhang and Shaoxing."
Li Yuchun said in a strange tone, "Is Pan Futai planning to take Fu Biao to grab food in person?"
How could Pan Yinglou have such ability? His Yan Biao has now been upgraded to Fu Biao, but it only has a thousand troops. And doesn't he know what their strength is?
It's impossible to grab it, and I don't have the ability or courage to take it.
"How about sending someone to Yuhang and Shaoxing to buy grain?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked. Li Yuchun and Zheng Jiwu looked at Pan Yinglou as if they were a fool.
