Although all the civil and military officials in Beijing knew why Qingxian's brother Qingxi was sent to Heilongjiang to work as a laborer, his charges had nothing to do with his father. Han Xiufeng clearly remembered that one of them was "ordering subordinates"

The officer Bian went to his home to take care of him."

As the saying goes: A person is not good for a thousand days, and a flower is red for a hundred days.

After being away from Beijing for so long, and it would take another two years at least to return to Beijing, Han Xiufeng didn't think that he would still have the same holy family as before, so he was very cautious in what he said and did. For example, when he came to Jiangbei to visit Duan Dazhang this time, not only did he let Chen

Even when Hu and others stayed in the city, they did not ask the official to send him away, so as not to be impeached, he made the official benevolent wait and take care of him or treated the yamen servants as slaves.

Wang Zaishan resigned from his job at the county government years ago. He was neither an official nor a government clerk, so he naturally didn't have so many scruples. He just hired a few porters to carry the gifts he had prepared and accompanied Han Xiufeng to Duan.

Home garden.

Duan Dazhang, who was traveling with Sun Wuye, heard from his family that Han Si had arrived and hurried home. Seeing that Han Xiufeng was wearing a long gown that was slightly washed out, and Wang Zaishan was the only one accompanying him, he couldn't help laughing and said: "Zhixing"

Ah Zhixing, you are really light and simple!"

Han Xiufeng ignored the joke and hurriedly straightened his clothes and bowed: "Xiu Feng pays homage to my uncle! It has been more than half a month since Xiu Feng returned to his hometown, and he didn't come to pay homage until today. Please forgive me."

Duan Dazhang was stunned for a moment, and then he held his arms and said with emotion: "Forgive me for your sins, filial piety comes first. You are returning to your hometown Dingyou, so naturally you have to arrange things at home properly before you can come out."

"Thank you uncle for your consideration."

"Stop talking about this, just come here. Let's go, I will take you to meet your aunt first!"

…

Although it seems to be true outside, this is the first time Han Xiufeng calls him "uncle".

Duan Dazhang was very relieved and happy. He took him to the inner house to meet his wife, accompanied him to talk to his wife for a while, and then took him to the flower hall.

Han Xiufeng saw that there was an old man sitting in the flower hall, but Duan Dazhang not only did not let the old man avoid him at all, he did not even introduce him. Han Xiufeng could only bow respectfully as a junior, and then pulled his sleeves from his sleeves.

He took out a gift list and said apologetically: "Uncle, Xiufeng came back in a hurry this time and didn't even have time to prepare..."

"You're not an outsider, why do you have to be so outsider?" Duan Dazhang took the gift list, looked down and was shocked: "This is called unprepared. These are all rare things that I can't buy even if I want to. They must have cost a lot of money.

Bar!"

"It doesn't cost much, as long as my uncle likes it."

"What a rare thing, let me see it."

"I can't show you this, but Zhixing pays filial piety to me!"

Duan Dazhang turned around and glared at the old man, put away the gift list and said with a smile: "Zhixing, I was so happy just now that I forgot to introduce you. Didn't you mention to me in your letter that you planned to send your child to Lishi Bookstore in the future?

This is Mr. Sun Wu from the Sun family in Ciqikou, and he is also the classmate of your uncle, Huang Yongzhu and I, who grew up together."

Although the Sun family in Ciqikou did not produce Jinshi, it was the same as the Ao family in Rongchang and the Wu family in Qijiang in Ba County. Han Xiufeng was immediately in awe and stood up in a hurry to salute: "Xiufeng has eyes but cannot recognize Mount Tai. Xiufeng pays homage to Sun Wu."

Lord!"

"No need to be too polite, no need to be too polite," Sun Wuye motioned for him to sit down and looked at him with a smile and said: "Nephew Zhixing, your uncle told me a long time ago that you planned to send the baby to my house. This

It's not that difficult, it's just...just..."

"Don't worry, Xiufeng knows that the baby is still young and it's too early to send her away now."

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm just curious about what is there that is so rare that even if I want to buy it in Ba County, I may not be able to buy it."

Before Han Xiufeng could speak, Duan Dazhang couldn't help laughing and scolding: "You are disrespectful to the elders, and you are not afraid of the younger generation's jokes. Thank you for being a role model for others!"

"Why am I being disrespectful?" Sun Wuye's face straightened, and he said plausibly: "The ancients said that knowing something is knowing it, and not knowing it is not knowing. I have lived to learn, although I have not been able to win the Jinshi like you and Huang Yongzhen.

La Hanlin, but my desire for knowledge has never changed. Whenever I encounter something I don’t understand, I will humbly ask for advice. As the saying goes, among three people, there must be my teacher..."

"Okay, okay, I can't tell you. I want to see it. Let me show it to you." Duan Dazhang didn't want to argue with him in front of the junior, so he simply took out the gift list from his sleeve.

Sun Wuye took the gift list and murmured while looking at it: "An English pocket watch, a French handgun, an American wind-resistant horse lantern, ten French automatic firebird guns, six pieces of English cloth, and Nanyang cinchona."

A box of frost...it turns out they are all foreign goods, and even if you have enough money in Ba County, you may not be able to buy them."

"Have you read it? Return it to me when you have finished it."

"Give it to you, I don't care about it, but you are no longer an official, so what do you need so many muskets and foreign guns for?"

Just as Duan Dazhang was about to speak, Han Xiufeng held up his hand and said: "The world is not peaceful, thieves are everywhere, and Jiangbei is as mixed as Ba County. It's hard to say whether there will be thieves with evil intentions, so Xiufeng feels that he has a gun in his hand, so he doesn't panic.

It is better to have a dozen foreign guns to guard the home than to have the family members use sticks."

"Zhixing, I've made you worry so much."

"Uncle, what are you talking about? If it weren't for your support, Xiufeng would not be where it is today. These ten foreign guns are really nothing."

Making Han Xiufeng laugh and cry, Sun Wuye said unabashedly with a bit of jealousy and a bit of envy: "This makes people afraid of being famous and pigs afraid of being strong. Everyone knows that you, Duan Dazhang, have been a high official and have a lot of money. You even have a house."

With such grandeur, if those thieves don't care about you, who do they care about?"

"Lao Wu, can you save some face for me?" Duan Dazhang asked, dumbfounded.

"Okay, okay, I won't speak anymore, you guys talk about yourselves."

"That's pretty much it."

Han Xiufeng couldn't help but laugh and said: "Uncle, with Mr. Sun here to chat with you and reminisce about old times in his spare time, I believe you will not be lonely during this time after returning to your hometown."

"That's true, but when I was an official abroad, I always missed home, but when I got home... I thought about the outside a little bit. Maybe it was because the news was too limited. You came at the right time. Tell me about things in Beijing, Liangjiang and Huguang.

The current situation.”

"Okay, Xiufeng will talk to you."

A few days ago, the manager of the Baxian Branch of "Rishengchang" made a special trip to the countryside of Zouma and delivered a box of letters and newspapers with seals on them. Regarding the news from Beijing, Liangjiang, Huguang and even Guangdong and other places, Han Xiufeng was better than Sichuan.

Cao Shuzhong on the east side and Du Xingyuan, the prefect of Chongqing, were both well-informed, and they talked about everything from the changes in the court to the war situation in Liangjiang and Huguang.

Knowing that Zeng Guofan was not only defeated but also almost lost his life, Wuchang fell again and the new governor Tao Enpei actually died for his country. Hu Linyi was ordered to act as the governor of Hubei in the critical moment and guarded Jinkou together with the navy of Taoist Li Mengqun. Duan Dazhang was worried

He said angrily: "Wuchang fell. What should I do if Changmao goes up the river? As far as I know, although the Three Gorges is a natural danger, there are only less than 10,000 soldiers garrisoned in total, and most of them are even temporarily recruited civilians. Where are they?

Hairy opponent!"

"Uncle, Xiufeng thought that with Master Zeng and Master Hu restrained, the possibility of Changmao going up the river was very slim. After all, although Sichuan is richer than Huguang, if they really attack Sichuan, they will easily be cut off from their retreat." Looking at Duan Dazhang Ruoyue.

what you think

Han Xiufeng continued: "What's more, Hong Xiuquan and other bandit leaders are working hard to manage Jiangning. Whether they divide their troops to invade the north or recruit heavy troops to capture Wuchang, it is all to protect Jiangning. They should not dare to extend the front line too long, and should not dare to go deep alone.

I am Sichuan."

"You say there's nothing to worry about?"

"It can't be said that there is no need to worry. Kuizhou still needs to be guarded, otherwise Changmao will think that I have Sichuan at my fingertips."

"So Cao Shuzhong won't be able to stay in Ba County for long, and will soon move to Kuizhou to supervise the prevention of blockage."

"He probably didn't receive the battle report from Huguang. If he received the news of the fall of Wuchang, he would definitely rush to Kuizhou at night. After all, as Sichuan East Road, he has the responsibility to defend the territory."

"But Kuizhou has to guard against Changmao, and the states and counties in the south of Chongqing Prefecture also have to guard against those bandits in Guizhou. Is it possible to hand over such important tasks to Chongqing Magistrate and Qijiang Magistrate?"

"I don't know about that, but I think he must have made some arrangements before leaving."

"Have you ever been to the road administration department? Has he looked for you?" Duan Dazhang asked in a low voice.

"I went to visit the Taoist Department yesterday afternoon and also paid a visit to Futai. I could tell that they wanted me to help my fellow officers and soldiers prevent bandits. But I feel that the top priority is not to prevent those bandits in Guizhou, but to prevent them."

The dispute between natives and foreigners is getting more and more intense. If we don’t solve the internal problems, how can we let go of the foreign ones?”

Sun Wuye couldn't help but said: "Nephew Zhixing, you stayed in Ba County for a long time before becoming an official. You must know that they have been fighting for hundreds of years. You should have seen it by now. Why is this so?"

Worried?"

"As you always said, Xiufeng is no longer surprised by the fight between some local gentry and businessmen from eight provinces. I didn't think it was anything before, but now I think it's not a trivial matter because I have learned from past experiences.

I feel that if the fight is allowed to continue, the consequences will be disastrous."

"How do you say this?" Duan Dazhang asked puzzledly.

Han Xiufeng thought about the news about Guangdong that Wang Naizeng, Yun Qijun, Wang Guisheng, Zhou Changchun and others sent from Guangdong to "Houyi Tang". Wen Xiang asked "Rishengchang" to send them news about Guangdong, and said solemnly: "This matter

It’s a long story, we have to start from the 30th year of Daoguang

Speaking of which, in August of that year, a wealthy Hakka family in Guixian County, Guangxi, named Wen Yayu, planned to take a Zhuang woman who was engaged to a local native as his concubine. The local natives unanimously opposed it, which triggered the Hakka community in Guixian.

A great fight between humans and natives.

After the Hakkas were defeated, their houses were set on fire by the natives. In order to seek shelter, more than 3,000 homeless Hakkas actually believed in and joined the bandit leader Hong Xiuquan's God-worshipping congregation. In other words, if there were not those 3,000 Hakkas,

If I had long hair, I wouldn’t have become like this.”

Duan Dazhang did not expect that the reason why Changmao became so big was the "conflict between locals and foreigners". He mused: "I have heard that the people in Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi are fierce, but I didn't expect that they would fight with weapons at all times."

"Uncle, Fifth Master, everyone now knows that long hair is a serious problem, but in fact, the long hair in Guangdong and Guangxi has not stopped because of the long hair flowing into Huguang and the two rivers. Not only has the dispute between natives and foreigners not ended, but it has become more and more intense.

It was the Hakka who initially followed the Hong bandits to cause chaos.

Later, they were mainly natives, so officials such as Ye Mingchen, the five-port trade minister and governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, recruited Ke Yong to exterminate the long-haired remnants. How could those Ke Yong miss this opportunity to retaliate against the natives? It is said that they have killed more than 100,000 natives.

, burning villages and plundering women without any plan."

Han Xiufeng took a deep breath and continued: "In order to protect themselves, many Guangfu gentry went so far as to publicize the killing of native people by Yong Yong. The native people responded one after another. Scholars and peasants practiced fighting. Everyone carried swords, and every household carried swords and huge cannons.

Foreign guns are regarded as relics, watchtowers and stockades are like the Great Wall, and the scope of weapon fighting has spread to 17 prefectures and counties including Heshan, Kaiping, Enping, Xinning, Xinxing, Yangchun, Yangjiang, and Gaoyao!
To be continued...