Qiao Songnian came to welcome the governor, and the governor would not leave until he was. Han Xiufeng naturally wanted to take this opportunity to find out where the bandits had been hit. If he didn't ask clearly, he always felt uneasy.

Qiao Songnian had just taken office shortly. He went to Jiading to meet Xu Naizhao a few days ago. The news was much better than Han Xiufeng who had been staying in Hai'an before. When he mentioned the bandit, he said worriedly: "Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang led their troops out of Yangzhou City, rushed to Pukou and met with Ji Wenyuan, the chief minister of the long-mao, and the troops of Ji Wenyuan, and others. The army had more than 20,000 people. After passing through Mengcheng, Anhui, Bozhou entered Henan, and after capturing Guide, the Yellow River was unable to cross the Yellow River without a ship. He then moved west along the south bank. On May 21, he arrived at the Sishui River and grabbed dozens of ships to cross the Yellow River. Because there was not enough ships, one of them could not cross the river and returned to Anhui to the south.

Most of the bandits who had crossed the river were unstoppable, conquering cities and territories all the way, occupying Wen County first, and then surrounding Huaiqing. Fortunately, the governor of Huaiqing, Yan Bingtao, was loyal to the country and personally led the temporary recruitment of Zhuang Yong to defend the city to the death, and dragged the bandits and bandits such as Lin Fengxiang to hold back the bandits and bandits. The emperor was appointed as the Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Palace, and the Governor of Zhili, Neer Jingye, as the imperial envoy, to control the troops in the north and south of the Yellow River to intercept the bandits and bandits.

Koner was incompetent, and had already surrounded the bandits under Huaiqing City for more than 40,000 soldiers and horses. He was actually surrounded by Lin Fengxiang's tricks, set up a few fake camps and fooled them. He broke through the eyes of more than 40,000 imperial troops, and wasted a good opportunity for Yan Bingtao to spare his life."

"Where are Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang now?" Han Xiufeng asked in a low voice.

"Mr. Xu said that after breaking through, the bandits entered Shanxi through Yuanqu, conquering Pingyang, Hongdong, and Licheng, they should enter Dongzhili now."

"So that's not far from the capital!"

"Yes, if Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang succeed, if they can't even defend the capital..." Qiao Songnian sighed, not daring to think further, let alone say further.

Han Xiufeng finally understood why the foreign consuls were swaying about helping the court or helping Changmao. Finally, he understood why even Liu Lichuan, Chen Alin, Li Shaoxi and others dared to rebel. It turned out that they all felt that the Qing Dynasty might not be able to be defended.

I thought about Changmao's conquering cities and land, but no matter where he captured, he was mainly looting. He almost captured a city and abandoned a city. After all, he felt that Changmao wanted to change the dynasty. After a while, he was silent and asked again: "Where is Changmao's going west?"

"The chief general of the Changmao who invaded the West was the Prime Minister Hu Yihuang of Chunguan Zheng of Hong Xiuquanfeng and the Deputy Prime Minister Lai Hanying of Xia. They led more than 1,000 warships with 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and went up the river from Jiangning. After capturing Anqing, Hu Yihuang stayed to take charge. Lai Hanying led the inspection of Zeng Tianyang and commanded more than 10,000 bandits from Lin Qirong to continue to advance westward, conquering Pengze, Hukou, Nankang, Wucheng and other places. It is said that the troops have already arrived at the city of Nanchang at this time."

"Can Nanchang be defended?" Compared to the bandits who went to attack the capital, Han Xiufeng was more worried about going up the river. After all, if the bandits really were captured and then captured Wuchang again, it was hard to say whether the bandits would continue to attack the river and attack Sichuan.

"It's not that I'm saying something discouraging. I thought it was almost impossible to defend it. It was not until later that I heard from Lord Xu that the new Hubei Censor Jiang Zhongyuan came to Nanchang. With Jiang Zhongyuan here, it was not that easy for Changmao to capture Nanchang."

The name Jiang Zhongyuan is so well-known, even more famous than Qishan and Xiang Rong. He is the most capable official in the Qing Dynasty. Thinking that Jiang Zhongyuan not only won the battle, but also killed the bandits and fled in his head, but also saved Du San's life, Han Xiufeng couldn't help but sigh: "With Lord Jiang in charge, Changmao, let alone conquering Nanchang, he probably suffered a great loss under the city of Nanchang."

"Do you know Jiang Zhongyuan too?"

"I often hear people mention it, but I can't even think about it. I not only know Lord Jiang, but also know that Lord Jiang recruits Chu Yong. If the Eight Banners and Green Camp are as good at fighting as Chu Yong, the imperial court will be just around the corner to wipe out Changmao."

"Jiang Zhongyuan is really famous, but you, Han Zhixing, have a great reputation. The Wanfuqiao victory, killing more than 400 long hairs! Unfortunately, you fought a battle. If you win a few more battles, you might be the first person to be the civil servant, and you will not be your fellow townsman named Liu."

"My Master Tai, please stop raising me. You didn't recognize me the first day. You know the best. People are self-aware. Let me run errands and do odd jobs. I am sorry to the court and the soldiers to be the ones."

When Qiao Songnian was in the capital, he knew that the reason why Han Si donated money was not to be a high-ranking official and earned money, but to be an official and get rid of the cold registration, so that the descendants of the Han family could enter the imperial examination. Thinking that Han Si's purpose had been achieved, Qiao Songnian couldn't help but ask, "Zhixing, is the injury on your leg true or false? You shouldn't want to retire after success."

"Of course it's true, this injury can still be fake!" Han Xiufeng's face turned right and stroked his thighs and said, "You don't know that my injury seems to have healed, but when it comes to wind and rain, my leg hurts. The pain makes me unable to sleep, get out of bed, and walk!"

"Old Han Le, so do I."

"I'm different from you. I'm not Lao Han's legs, I'm a war injury!"

"It's different, it's different. Can I not believe others or you? If I don't say this, I'll talk about what the hell did when Lord Guo asked you to come to Shanghai."

"Get food!"

"You, the fifth-rank deputy transport master, asked personally?" Qiao Songnian asked with a smile.

"If you don't believe me, please go and ask Lord Guo." Han Xiufeng smiled.

"Stop coaxing me, to be honest, are you here to get salt?"

"My Master Tai, you can eat food indiscriminately, but you can't talk nonsense. Shanghai is the source of Zhejiang salt, and Huai salt cannot be sold to Shanghai. I, Han Si, are also appointed as a fifth-rank court official, so how could I do that if I know the law and break the law."

"I didn't say you planned to sell Huai salt to Shanghai and even to my Songjiang Prefecture."

"Then what do you want to say?" Han Xiufeng couldn't help asking.

Qiao Songnian smiled confidently and said, "If you guessed correctly, you probably came to find foreigners and hire foreign ships."

Han Xiufeng was so happy that he couldn't help but ask, "What do I hire a foreign ship for?"

"Transport salt!"

"You mean I plan to hire foreign ships to transport Huaiyan salt to Huguang to divert the land?"

"Isn't it?"

"Of course not!" Han Xiufeng put down the teacup and explained with a wry smile: "My Master Tai, you have never been to Taizhou, Yangzhou. I don't know what the salt management in Lianghuai has been abandoned. Let's put it this way, don't say that I can't hire foreign ships, even if I can hire this salt, I can't transport it."

"Why can't you hire it? Why can't you transport it even if you hire it?" Qiao Songnian asked curiously.

"Actually, the general merchants and transporters in Yangzhou had little capital as early as the Jiaqing Dynasty. Every time they went to the salt farm to buy salt, they had to borrow silver from the court, and waited for the salt to be transported to the entrusted land and sold it before returning the principal and interest. You can't believe it. Before Changmao's rebellion, there were only a dozen general merchants in Yangzhou who had the financial resources to handle salt." Han Xiufeng paused and then said, "Now, those general merchants and transporters have been taken to one pot by Changmao again. Without the salt merchants, do you think this salt can be transported out?"

"So, Lianghuai Salt Affairs has been completely abandoned!"

"You only know that Lord Guo also thought of a solution and planned to implement the ticket and salt law in Huainan every Huainan. Even if anyone can lead the yamen, then go to the salt farm to buy salt and sell it. But the money in the market is so tight, let alone money, even copper coins are not enough to circulate, and they cannot turn over. Who has the money to lead the salt sales?"

Lianghuai Salt Tax is one of the main tax sources of the imperial court. Qiao Songnian did not expect that Lianghuai Salt Affairs had become so corrupt. Thinking about it, he asked again: "No one is willing to run salt, what should I do if those salt farms do? Wouldn't those stoves have no livelihoods?"

"There is nothing to worry about in the salt farm. The main thing is that the stove owners have salt stakes, so Lord Guo can only turn a blind eye and acquiesce to those stove owners to cultivate the land. Some should grow grains, and some should change to cotton. In fact, many salt farms have long stopped producing salt, otherwise the big merchants in Shanghai would not go to Tongzhou to buy cotton goods every year."

Seeing Qiao Songnian thinking, Han Xiufeng added: "Even if salt is cooked, it cannot be sold. If salt cannot be sold, the grain from Huguang cannot be transported. Therefore, the salt farms that were not abandoned before, such as Anfeng, Fu'an and Jiaoxie, had to be reclaimed this year. Not only did the saline-alkali land not harvested well, but the grain could not be grown by standing here. As the saying goes, the green and yellow are not connected. As the deputy of the two Huai Transportation Transportation Transportation, I can't watch the salt Ding starve to death, so I raised some money to come to Shanghai to get grain."

"So that's it, it turns out I'm really thinking too much."

"You are not thinking too much, but you are not expecting that Lianghuai Salt Affairs will be abandoned like this."

Han Xiufeng didn't want to talk about Lianghuai Salt Affairs anymore, so he changed his mind and talked about what was happening in front of him. Hearing that the military ship "Antelope" of Jiang Customs was bombed on the river and more than a dozen people died, Qiao Songnian said with a frown: "The rebels robbed several ships, including foreign ships. Perhaps it was really the rebels."

"I don't think Liu Lichuan will take this harsh action against the 'sweet chicken selling'."

"How do you say this?"

"Brother Jianhou, believe it or not, 'super-selling chicken' is not as simple as you and I thought before. You can't look down on him just because his favor was donated for money. His previous errand was bought for money. His relationship with foreigners is really different. Others may look down on him, but Liu Lichuan dare not offend him. It is no exaggeration to say that offending him is offending foreigners!"

"Liu Lichuan dare not offend the 'sweet chicken', where is Chen Alin? Didn't Chen Alin always want to kill the 'sweet chicken'?"

"Chen Alin is not afraid of offending the 'sweet chicken', but in my opinion, Chen Alin may not necessarily dare to blow up the 'Antelope' number."

"Why don't Chen Alin dare?"

"Chen Alin is not afraid of 'selling chickens', but it does not mean that he is not afraid of foreigners. How could he know if there are foreigners on the Antelope? What if the foreigners are killed if the foreigners are killed? What's more, the Antelope is blocking the British and French foreign ships these days to dock and unload. There are all foreign merchant ships next to him. What if the foreign ships are also blown up?"

Qiao Songnian pondered: "That's really a blow-up by foreigners!"

"It is unlikely that foreigners, because there is no need. The 'Antelope' has been blocking them from docking and unloading goods these days, but as far as I know, it is pretending to stop them. Moreover, in the eyes of foreigners, 'Selling Chicken' is the most reasonable official in my Qing Dynasty. It is not good for them to blow up the 'Selling Chicken' to death." Han Xiufeng said, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Qiao Songnian suddenly reacted: "It turned out to be a bitter plan! The 'Antelope' was blown up, and he was lucky enough to escape the disaster and could give an explanation to the court."

Han Xiufeng said coldly: "When the foreigners bombed, it was because he was guilty of blocking the foreigners' merchant ships from the docking, and wanted to make the British and French merchant ships pay tariffs as usual. As a result, the foreigners held a grudge and killed him; if they said that the unrest and bombed the party, they could at least clear the suspicion of the bandits."

"It seems that I really underestimated him!"

"If he didn't have a good knowledge, could he fight with foreigners and be able to get along well with others?" Han Xiufeng asked back, and then changed the subject: "That's more than a dozen lives. Among the dead, there are tax officials sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and tax collectors who knew that he had used public service and private tax payments. This matter cannot be left unresolved."

"Now people die, and there is no evidence of death." Qiao Songnian said helplessly.

Han Xiufeng knocked on the table and said coldly: "Put the matter of the Antelope aside. The matter of his life being captured by the rebels is not over yet. The dozen or so people on the Antelope cannot die in vain. A life of only one person must be counted as ten thousand taels!"

Qiao Songnian, who was worried about food and money, weighed it and looked up and said, "Ten thousand taels are too little, so you can still have 20,000 taels. When Lord Xu arrives, I will report to Lord Xu and ask Lord Xu to beat him."
Chapter completed!