Han Xiufeng returned to the guild hall not because of the newly settled examination case, but because of the upcoming examination of the Ministry of Etiquette. In fact, not only did the imperial court have to open a subject to obtain scholars this year, but next year is the emperor's thirtieth birthday, and the imperial examination will be granted as usual.

Cui Huanzhang, Yang Liqing and other people from Ba County had already arrived. Fu Shilun, Li Wenjun and other scholars from other prefectures in Sichuan came to the Chongqing Guild Hall to stay because they could not find a place to stay. Ren He was not interested in official business these days.

I want to take the exam again and give it another try.

As one of the few third-rank officials in Sichuan and a Beijing official, Han Xiufeng had to come to visit his fellow villagers who came to Beijing to take the exam. Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the guild hall, he found that all the scholars, including Cui Huanzhang and Yang Liqing, were

They drank wine and talked happily about Bai Zhen's execution. It was as if they would be named on the gold medal list if Bai Zhen was punished in the canon.

Han Xiufeng felt very uncomfortable, but he could understand the mood of these scholars, so he could only cheer up, toast them with wine, and then returned to Nanyuan overnight on the pretext of being busy with official duties.

It was midnight when we returned to the official office, and the lights were still on in the lobby.

Seeing Ronglu, Wang Qianli, Yongxiang, and Wang Hedong standing up to greet each other, Han Xiufeng subconsciously asked: "It's so late, why don't you guys go and rest?"

"Fourth Master, Xue Huan urgently reports that the talks in Shanghai have collapsed. Elgin became so angry that he returned south a month ago." Wang Qianli submitted an official document and continued: "What makes people even more anxious is that,

Jiang Zhizhang, who had just been awarded the title of imperial censor last year, had never even met Xue Huan, let alone recognized him. He actually wrote a memorial saying that Xue Huan was courageous and wise. When he was appointed as the Shanghai Dao, foreigners were intimidated. The memorial asked to send Xue Huan to

Huante summoned him to the capital and handed it over to the monk king for his appointment at the right time!"

Ronglu smiled bitterly and said: "In the past few months, Guiliang and He Guiqing have made many reports, and several of them mentioned Xue Huan."

Han Xiufeng was so dumbfounded that he doubtfully asked: "Just because Guiliang and He Guiqing mentioned Xue Huan in their memorials, Jiang Zhizhang submitted an excerpt to protect the memorial?"

Yongxiang couldn't help but murmured: "When I hear that something is happening, this is what he eats."

"What's the matter? I think he is self-righteous!" Han Xiufeng became more and more depressed as he thought about it. He sat down and asked, "Is the emperor accurate?"

"That's right." Before Wang Qianli could speak, Rong Lu explained: "This official document was sent by Brother Bochuan. The news that the Emperor approved of Xue Huan's coming to Beijing as ordered by Jiang Zhizhang was also sent by Brother Bochuan.

It doesn’t matter if Xue Huan transfers Seng Gelinqin to serve under him, but if he leaves Shanghai like this, our information will be even less informed."

Thinking that the emperor had given permission and the official document calling Xue Huan to come to Beijing might have been sent to Liangjiang, Han Xiufeng took a few deep breaths and said lightly: "Isn't there Liu Shanyang over there in Shanghai? The sky will not fall."

"At this point, we can only count on Liu Shanyang." Wang Qianli said helplessly.

"What is supposed to come will come sooner or later. Elgin will not send troops to invade because we have people watching in Shanghai and think he has been fooled again. Everyone, the good days are over, so be ready for war!"

"Fourth Master, I am waiting for your words." Yongxiang looked back at Wang Hedong and said eagerly: "The last batch of brothers who went to Gu'an have been practicing for fourteen days, why don't we bring them back quickly?

Bar."

"Don't worry, the more we are at this time, the less we can panic." Han Xiufeng pondered for a moment, looked up at the crowd and said, "It will take Elgin ten days at least to return to Hong Kong from Shanghai. There is no way he will not go after he returns.

Look at Guangzhou, even if he rushes to send troops to invade in exchange for treaty, he still has to prepare food, grass and baggage first, and it will take two or three months anyway."

"Fourth Master, are you saying that the foreign soldiers will not be able to reach Dagong Kou until May or June at the earliest?"

"Um."

"So we still have two or three months to prepare."

"To be precise, Seng Gelinqin still has two or three months to prepare." Han Xiufeng took the tea cup from Wang Hedong and said expressionlessly: "As an imperial envoy, he has the responsibility to defend the territory, so he can only fight for it.

.We are different from him, we can’t put all our efforts into it.”

Ronglu couldn't help but ask: "Then shall we go to Tianjin then?"

Han Xiufeng muttered: "Of course I have to go. If I don't go, I don't know how the battle ahead will turn out. But we can't all go, at most half of them go, and all of them must be able to ride horses. If this battle

If the fight goes well, those who go will stay put. If the fight goes badly, then retreat to Tianjin and help Shi Zanqing defend the city."

Yongxiang was confused and couldn't help but ask: "Fourth Master, the battle ahead is going well, why do we have to stand still?"

"Because if you go, you will be taking credit from others, and they will definitely not be happy. And if we really go, the little bit of family wealth we have hidden will be exposed." Seeing Yongxiang hesitate to speak, Han said

Xiufeng continued: "If the army is defeated like a mountain in the front, the foreigners will definitely not take the officers and soldiers seriously anymore. The ancients said that Yun Jiao's army will be defeated. Then we can use the city wall to give them some color."

"But we only have half of our people here, and we can't influence the situation of the battle with this small number of people."

"We only went to half of the people, but we are not the only ones in Tianjin."

Wang Qianli came to his senses and blurted out: "Shi Zanqing, the prefect of Tianjin, is not one of those people who are greedy for life and afraid of death. He has worked hard for nearly two years to build the city wall. He built the city wall high and strong, and raised money to cast dozens of statues of various sizes.

Tongtiepao has two to three thousand local warriors under his command. As long as he can help stabilize the morale of the army, then this battle can still be fought. Even if Tianjin City may not be defended, it can still delay the foreigners for a few days."

Yongxiang realized that the reason why he sent troops was mainly to buy time to prepare for the worst, but he couldn't help but ask: "If the foreigners are powerful, how many days will it take to defend the city with Shi Zanqing's brothers?"

"Three days, even if there is only one person left, you still have to defend me for three days!" Han Xiufeng thought for a while and then said: "If Tianjin Haikou really falls, the imperial court will definitely send imperial envoys to Tongzhou to arrange defensive blockades.

At that time, both troops and generals will be dispatched from other places, and special personnel will be ordered to collect the defeated troops. What we need to help secure is the time for the imperial court to dispatch troops and generals, collect the defeated troops, and arrange defensive blockades in the Tongzhou area."

Thinking that the foreign guns were so sharp and that the foreign guns were more accurate than the foreign guns in Heying, Rong Lu really had no confidence in whether he could block the foreigners in Tongzhou and couldn't help but ask: "What if Tongzhou can't be defended as well?

"

"Then we have to do what we have to do."

Han Xiufeng thought for a while and said bluntly: "Zhonghua, when the time comes, you can follow me and lead my brothers to escort you. Brother Bai Ling, when the time comes, you have to do two things. The first thing is to lead the life pillar and iron lock to lead the garden."

The young and strong Zaoli inside went into the city, picked up all the people on the list that had been drafted before, and then escorted them to Gu'an and other places for proper resettlement;

The second thing is to summon the officials and gentry from Gu'an and other places after settling the people who should be resettled, so that they can provide money and food, and organize team training as soon as possible to harass the foreigners' luggage.

By the way, when the time comes, I will send a letter to the emperor to order you to act expediently."

"What if Gu'an and other places cannot be defended?" Wang Qianli asked cautiously.

"You can rest assured that the foreigners are not long-haired. Although they are fierce, they are small in number. Even if they are overwhelming wherever they go, how much space can they occupy?" Han Xiufeng asked back, and then said: "To be honest, during this period of time

I have been thinking about how to fight this battle, and after much deliberation I have found that this battle is said to be difficult to fight, but it is said to be easy to fight. As long as we can hold back the foreigners, we can bring them down."

"Okay, just do it with them!"

"Actually...even if you delay, you don't need to delay for long. After all, delaying requires determination, especially at this juncture when the bandits in Liangjiang, Guangdong, Anhui, Henan and other places have not yet been wiped out. It can be said that delaying is to take the national destiny.

I'm betting. If it really comes to that point, I guess the emperor may not be able to make this determination, and will most likely issue an edict to negotiate peace."

"The foreigners don't believe us at all, are they willing to talk to us again?" Yongxiang asked in a low voice.

"I will be willing. If the foreigners don't talk to the imperial court, how can they still talk to Changmao? If the imperial court breaks up and the world is in chaos, how will they do business and where will they make money?" Han Xiufeng sighed softly and continued: "But

The conditions then will definitely not be the same as now, and they will definitely raise the price."

The more Rong Lu thought about it, the more he felt that Han Xiufeng's words made sense. The more he thought about it, the more depressed he became. He clenched his fists and said, "Since extending your head is a knife, and shrinking your head is also a knife. Sooner or later, you will receive such a knife. Why... why do you have to receive this blow?"

Big knife!"

"Because of such a simple truth, you understand and I understand, but some people don't understand! Even if there are a few understanding people, they pretend to be confused."

"They are all just muddling along!"

"Stop talking, what's the use of talking about this." Han Xiufeng stood up, thought about it and said: "From tomorrow on, stop being so picky about money and food, especially food. Spend the money in the public account.
Chapter completed!