Zhang Guangcheng wanted to transport Zhang Zhigao's coffin back to Qiantang, Zhejiang, and had to go through water. The nearest water route was from Taizhou to Taixing, from Taixing to the river, from Taixing to Shanghai in the east, and into the canal in the south. However, now it is not as good as before, and the navy of the bandits was cruising on the river. Xu Ying felt that Zhang Guangcheng was very brave and dared not take the risk of walking the canal.

The safest way is to go east to Shanghai. When Zhang Guangcheng thought that he would come to Taizhou, he would also guess that he would investigate the state warehouse as soon as he took office. He found that all the money in the warehouse was gone, and he would definitely chase it. It was impossible for him to be without precautions. Xu Ying suddenly remembered someone and immediately called Chu Chenggui and other dozens of fast-track yamen runners, requisitioned two fast-ships, and rushed to Hai'an.

If you don’t chase him, you won’t know, and you will be more anxious when you chase him.

When I passed Jiangyan, I found out that Zhang Zhigao's spiritual ship not only passed by Jiangyan yesterday, but also headed to Hai'an. When he arrived in Hai'an in a hurry, Han Xiufeng had already received a letter from Chu Chenggui and was sitting at Zhongbakou waiting.

Hu Zi, who was standing at the bow of the boat, found something was wrong, hurriedly lifted the curtain and shouted: "Master, there are all ships in front of him, and there are soldiers on the boat, blocking our way!"

"I want to see who is so bold!"

Xu Ying snorted coldly, and when he got out of the cabin, he saw seven or eight boats blocking the middle of the river. The bow and stern of the boat were full of officers and soldiers from the salt camp, and there were also a thousand generals and several generals. The people who set up the checkpoints and collected all looked here in the east, and no one dared to get close. Looking up at the shore, he saw Han Xiufeng bowing to him, with a harmless smile on his face.

"Master Xu, Xiaguan has been waiting for a long time. You have been traveling all night and must not have had breakfast. Xiaguan has prepared buns, sesame cakes, rice porridge and pickles. I wonder if Mr. Xu can enjoy the whole thing."

"Brother Han, Xu is grateful for your kindness. He is just doing official duties and really has no time to bother you."

"Mr. Xu, as far as I know, you are here to handle Taizhou affairs. But from here to the east, there is Kouxi, to the north, Fu'an and Anfeng, and to the south, Rugao. What official duties do you have when you are the official hall of Taizhou?"

Xu Ying didn't want to have time to circle Han Xiufeng, and said coldly with his hands behind his back: "To be honest, I'm going to chase Zhang Guangcheng! Brother Han, you won't have seen him before."

“See.”

"Since you have seen it, why don't you stop me as a deputy of the fifth-grade fortune who was specially granted by the emperor?"

"He didn't have any private salt on his boat, so why did the subordinates stop him?"

"If he doesn't have private salt on his boat, isn't it possible for him to carry it on his boat?" Xu Ying pointed to the officers and soldiers of the salt camp who blocked his way, and his eyes turned to Han Xiufeng again.

"Misunderstanding, Mr. Xu, you misunderstood." He bowed his hand again and looked at him with a smile, "Master Xu, the official did not stop Zhang Guangcheng, but instead stopped you. There is a reason for the official."

"Brother Han, if you remember correctly, Hai'an seems to be under my jurisdiction in Taizhou. As the deputy of the two Huaihe River Transportation, you stopped me on the territory of Taizhou and transferred so many soldiers. What do you mean?"

"I won't let you chase Zhang Guangcheng."

"You are so brave!"

"Master Xu, you think too much of me, Han Xiufeng. In terms of courage, you are much more courageous than me, Han Xiufeng, and you are loyal and loyal."

"Since you know that I am loyal and brave, why do you dare to stop me?" Xu Ying asked gritted his teeth.

While calling him to go ashore, Han Xiufeng said meaningfully: "Because if you hadn't been the support at that time, the lower official would not have been able to become the fifth-rank deputy. Because you are a fellow villager of Lord Guo, the lower official would not want to see you miss your future in anger."

Xu Ying was amused and couldn't help but ask: "Han Zhixing, do you want to lead your troops to stop me? Do you want to think about me?"

"That's right." Han Xiufeng nodded slightly, thought about it and emphasized: "If Lord Guo was here, Lord Guo would still be arrested to stop you."

"If Lord Guo knew the inside story, how could he stop me? It's so outrageous!"

"Master Xu, why don't you listen to the advice? Since you don't listen to the advice, then just waste it. As long as I, Han Xiufeng, are there, you don't want to pass by here!"

"You dare!"

"Liang Jiu obeyed the order and guarded Zhongbakou. No one was allowed to pass. If anyone dared to make a pass, he would take it down."

"Abide by the order!"

"Han Zhixing, you dare to commit crimes!"

"Master Xu, you know that I don't want to do this official anymore, so why don't I dare?" Han Xiufeng was too lazy to sharpen his mouth, so he simply sat down and picked up the dishes and ate breakfast like nothing happened.

Xu Ying turned around and looked at the yamen runners who had their heads hanging down and didn't even dare to raise their heads. Then he looked at the officers and soldiers of the salt camp holding spears and machetes. Finally, he realized what it means to "a scholar who meets a soldier, and he can't explain it clearly." He could only snort coldly and go ashore with his teeth.

"Master Xu, sit down, let's eat and talk." Han Xiufeng helped him serve porridge and said as if he was chatting with family: "Zhang Guangcheng probably has arrived in Tongzhou here. Even if I ask you to pass by here, you will not be able to catch up with him even if you are lucky enough to catch up with him, what can you do with him?"

Seeing that Han Xiufeng asked all the people who were serving him to retreat, Xu Ying sat opposite him and stared at him and asked angrily: "The State Curry is empty. He swept away all the taxes he collected in the first half of the year, leaving such a big loss. If you were to him, would you chase him?"

"Won't."

"You are not the official seal, you are standing and talking without any pain in your back."

"Master Xu, if I am the official seal officer like you, I will not chase him." Han Xiufeng opened the steamer and helped Xu Ying pick up a hot bun, explaining: "You must know that it is the tax that is in Taizhou for half a year, at least 20,000 to 30,000 taels. Do you think he will carry it with him? Since he can't carry it with you, even if you catch up, what can you do to him? It's said that there are faults and debts and a master. Even if you look for it, you can only find Zhang Zhigao, but Zhang Zhigao is dead. Can you let Zhang Zhigao come back to life or plan to whip Zhang Zhigao's body?"

"Is it possible that Zhang Guangcheng will take away the taxes for half a year?" Xu Ying asked coldly.

"Master Xu, I know you're so angry, but there's no good idea to encounter such a thing." Han Xiufeng put down his chopsticks and said slowly: "Zhang Zhigao and his son have done something, but the matter is like this, so we can't blame them all for this. As the saying goes, rabbits will bite people when they are anxious, and dogs will jump over the wall when they are anxious. Think about it, how many times did Zhang Zhigao complain after the bandit retreated to Yangzhou? If he was asked to retire and return home at that time, how could he be like this now?"

"The one who was not allowed to retire was Fu Zhulang'a, and Lord Lei."

"Mr. Xu, you pushed it cleanly. As far as I know, you seem to have been helping Zhang Zhigao with Master Lei for a lot of beautiful words." Han Xiufeng did not hesitate to expose Xu Ying's nonsense and changed the subject: "If I hadn't thought that you and Master Guo were fellow townsmen, I wouldn't have been in charge of this bad thing and wouldn't have stopped you here."

"Han Zhixing, what do you mean? Explain it clearly for me!"

"Master Xu, in terms of age, you are older than me; in terms of origin, you are a great Jinshi; in terms of being an official, you become an official earlier than me, and you are even my boss. Logically speaking, it is not the turn of me, Han Xiufeng, who is good at showing off his skills. But you have chased Hai'an because of this, and Xiufeng has a few heartfelt words that are not happy."

"I want to ask you about your advice on how to be an official," Xu Ying said, but his tone was a bit sarcastic.

In the eyes of these officials who entered the imperial examination, donating their births is not the right way. Han Xiufeng didn't care and said slowly: "Mr. Xu, you must have a good reputation in life, and you must have a good reputation as an official. It is said that death is the most important thing for people to die. Zhang Zhigao is now dead. If you still hold on, you will not only be laughed at by others when it is spreading, but will not ruin your official reputation, you will have no friends, and there will not even be any Shangguan who dares to use you again."

Xu Ying suddenly discovered that Han Xiufeng's words made some sense, and he was speechless for a moment.

What surprised him even more was that Han Xiufeng actually took out a hand-written official account from the stool and looked around and said, "Mr. Xu, if there is no record of this, you should be Tongzhi, the general inspector of the Qing army of Yangzhou Prefecture, who was added in November of the first year of Xianfeng."

"So what?" Xu Ying asked subconsciously.

Han Xiufeng asked: "Do you know how many years Zhang Zhigao has been in Taizhou official hall?"

Xu Ying only knew that Zhang Zhigao had been in Taizhou for many years, but he didn't know how much it was, so he couldn't help asking: "How many years?"

"He was promoted to Taizhou magistrate in the 23rd year of Daoguang, and he did it for ten years. During this period, Huaiyang Road was replaced by five positions, Yangzhou prefect was replaced by six positions, Lianghuai Salt Transportation Envoy was replaced by seven positions, Ganquan County was replaced by seven positions, Jiangdu County was replaced by seven positions, Yizhen County was replaced by more frequent positions, and nine positions were replaced by nine positions!"

Seeing Xu Ying's skeptical look, Han Xiufeng simply recited: "Chen Wenjie, a juren from Boluo, Guangdong, was elected in August of the 20th year; Sun Wei, was appointed in the 25th year of Daoguang; Zhang Xuexiang, a native of Shuntian, was appointed in the 26th year of Daoguang; Fang Yu, a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi, was assigned in September of the 27th year of Daoguang, and was appointed again in the 29th year; Wang Jianxin, a juren from Neixiang, Henan, was transferred in October of the 27th year of..."

"What the hell do you want to say?" Xu Ying asked impatiently.

"Mr. Xu, although you have been out of Yangzhou for less than three years, it is impossible not to know why the prefectures and prefectures and counties have changed so frequently, not because of other things, but because of taxes! Zhang Zhigao was able to be a Taizhou official hall for ten years, not because of other things, but because the taxes that Taizhou should pay for the past ten years have never been owed, and the food and salary that Taizhou should assist all the yamen of all sizes have never been short of, and the name of punishment has never been wrong. The performance evaluations every three years are all excellent!"

"According to what you said, Zhang Zhigao is still a capable official or a good official?"

"For the court, he is really." Han Xiufeng put his official ambition aside and then said: "Besides, there are many deficits in the office. Some of them even owed the court three to five years of taxes, while Taizhou only lost half a year. Compared with other prefectures and county officials, it is not easy for Zhang Zhigao to achieve this. In other words, not only did you not suffer much loss, but you took a big advantage. You even have to thank Zhang Zhigao, after all, this is not a mess anyway."

"But……"

"Master Xu, believe me, there are not so many. If you don't believe it, you can ask Lord Guo in the future, or ask Lord Lei to see what Lord Guo and Lord Lei will say." Looking at Xu Ying's desire to speak, Han Xiufeng reminded again: "I have seen your friends. In my opinion, they are better to say that they are your friends than to ask them to do something else. It is not okay to expect them to assist you in Taizhou's official hall. If there is a suitable one, please immediately postpone one."

"What should I do with this official? I, Xu Ying, don't need you, Han Zhixing to teach you!"

"Okay, pretend I didn't say it."

"Goodbye."

“Not giving.”

Xu Ying shook his hand, but did not chase Zhang Guangcheng again. Instead, he angrily led Chu Chenggui and waited for the yamen runners to turn back to Taizhou. Su Jueming ran over and looked at Fanying who was leaving and asked, "Second Master, how many days do you think he can do this Taizhou official hall?"

Han Xiufeng was silent for a moment and turned around and said, "It is not necessary to be a good person if you can study, and it is not necessary to be an official if you can pass the exam. He is stubborn and self-righteous. I think he can't handle this Taizhou Zhengtang for a few days."

"Will he hold a grudge against you?"

"If he holds a grudge against me, he will not go home, and he will suffer for face. He is the kind of person who is like him." Han Xiufeng raised his arm and signaled Liang Jiu to lead his troops back to the camp. He thought about it and said solemnly: "He may be a real official and loyal to the court, but he is definitely not a good official. Letting him take charge of Taizhou affairs is really not a blessing for the people of Taizhou."
Chapter completed!