Chapter 60 Section 60 After being promoted, you must keep a low profile

On a cloudy noon after reaching the second rank, Zeng Guofan took two guards and rode a blue woolen sedan chair to the Fahai Temple outside the city to attend the consecration ceremony of the newly completed Golden Buddha. Zeng Guofan used to ride in blue woolen sedan chairs carried by four people, but now he has been promoted to the second-rank official. According to normal calculations, not only should the number of people carrying sedan chairs be increased, but the sedan chairs should also be changed from blue to green. This is in line with the system. Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule. If an official has reached the rank but does not earn a lot of money, he can do what he can, and it is not considered a violation of the system; Even if the sedan chair violates the system, once it is reported by others, not only will it be punished, but in serious cases, it will be dismissed from office and exiled into the army.

Zeng Guofan had already made up his mind that he would never use eight people to carry the green woolen sedan chair.His income is limited, so he really can't support too many idlers, and he doesn't want to show off.When he was in the third-rank official residence, he should have taken the green woolen sedan chair, but he didn't take it, he still took his old blue woolen sedan chair; now that he is in the second-rank official residence, he still has no plans to take the green woolen sedan chair.Taking the green woolen sedan chair is not only a matter of adding a few bearers, but also has the sedan chair officials and sedan chair officials. The ostentation is too high-profile.After being promoted, you must keep a low profile. If you show your sharpness, it will cause dissatisfaction with your superiors and colleagues. The former is worried that someone will fight for power, and the latter is mostly out of jealousy.

He didn't dare to keep any of the bearers recommended by Guan Wen, and he didn't care whether the official would be annoyed.His road to officialdom is still very long, and there are too many things to do.Of course, the top wear will naturally be changed from bright blue to red.This is issued by the Ministry of Officials, so you don't need to worry about it yourself.But court clothes and court boots must cost money to make new ones.Although the third-rank official uniforms and the second-rank official uniforms are embroidered with the same nine pythons and five claws, the pattern of the supplementary clothing is different; the third-rank official embroiders are peacocks, while the second-rank official embroiders are golden pheasants.Peacocks and golden pheasants are not the same level, they are absolutely different.

On the way to Fahai Temple, Zeng Guofan found that there were a lot of people on this day. Needless to say, those who burned incense and made wishes were just playing for fun, and there were no breaks this morning.There were too many green and blue sedan chairs, some with guards of honor, some simple.Because it was outside the city, the green woolen sedan chairs were carried by eight people, and they all walked quickly in the middle of the road, while the blue woolen sedan chairs had to be pulled to the side, but they were more confident than the pedestrians. Gou Sitou, who was supporting Zeng Guofan's sedan chair, sprained his ankle one day and put Wang Mazi plaster on it, and the pain continued, so he had to rest at home.Xu Laosan, who was carrying the left rear sedan chair pole, has been suffering from asthma these days, coughing a few times after walking a few steps, occasionally pulling out his hand to wipe the sweat oozing from his forehead.

Xu Laosan's asthma doesn't happen all the time, once it happens, it only takes three to five days for him to recover.Zeng Guofan saw that Xu Laosan was a person who could endure hardships, was usually a good person, and never talked too much, so he didn't plan to change.Xu Laosan also knew what was wrong with him, except that he couldn't do much during the few days when he was ill. Usually, as long as he put down the sedan chair pole and grabbed whatever he did, the whole family liked him. The sedan chair moved slowly, and there were many passers-by, stopping and going. After walking for more than an hour, Zeng Guofan still hadn't seen the spire of Fahai Temple.Although he was a little impatient, there was nothing he could do.The pine trees on the side of the road were verdant, and when we reached an uphill place, the four bearers obviously struggled to walk.

Just at this moment, a large green woolen sedan chair with neat ceremonial guards rushed over quickly from behind.Seeing them, the elder Xu in front hurriedly leaned the sedan chair to the right side of the road, but it was not enough for the green woolen sedan chair to pass.The road here is narrow, no matter how you hide, it is difficult to pass the big sedan chair carried by eight people. Normally speaking, on such a narrow road section, even if the blue woolen sedan does not give way, the green woolen sedan behind should not bother. What's more, in order to show respect, Xu Lao San has already given up the sedan chair to the side of the road. More impeccable.

Zeng Guofan has warned Xu Laosan more than once since the day when Dingzihong was born: "Although the main hall is a second-rank official, because it is sitting in a blue sedan chair, you must give way when you see a green sedan chair. Because of Motobutang alone, the rules of the officialdom have been disrupted!" Although Xu Laosan couldn't figure it out, they didn't dare to disobey Zeng Guofan's instructions.But this time, I don't know whether it was caused by the adults in the green sedan chair, or whether the guides and sedan guards deliberately showed off, and even ignored the actual situation, and wanted to teach the blue blanket sedan who didn't understand the rules.

The guide of the green baize sedan rode a tall horse, ran up to Zeng Guofan's bazaar, and stopped horizontally. The second master who was supporting the green baize sedan also flew over and lifted the curtain of the blue baize sedan.When Xu Laosan saw that something was wrong, they got off the sedan chair in fright. Zeng Guofan was concentrating on conceiving an article at this time, but he didn't expect a tall horse to suddenly appear in front of him, which startled him, and was about to ask the guards beside the sedan chair to ask what happened, when the sedan chair suddenly fell down, Out of nowhere, Wai Leng reached in with a hand and grabbed him in the chest, and pulled him out of the sedan chair with a strong pull.

Zeng Guofan's center of gravity was out of balance, and his legs hadn't stabilized in a daze, and he had already received a heavy slap on the cheek.Seeing that Zeng Guofan was covering half of his face in a daze, the strong man who beat him became even more angry, and angrily cursed: "If you don't have eyes, why don't you hurry up and make amends to my lord!" Once Zeng Guofan heard this, he knew that his sedan chair must have blocked the way of some prince (except for those who helped the prince and the emperor, no one dared to slap a second-rank official), which made the prince angry.So, he walked quickly to the back of the sedan chair, thinking in his heart how he should explain it to the prince.

Zeng Guofan hadn't reached the green baize sedan chair, but the officials in the green baize sedan chair scrambled out of it, which shocked Zeng Guofan a lot.The man rushed to Zeng Guofan's feet, turned over with a plop and fell to his knees. His face turned pale, and he kowtowed and said, "The slaves have blind eyes! The slaves have blind eyes! Please forgive me, my lord!" Zeng Guofan was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly opened his eyes to take a closer look. Seeing the kneeling official wearing a bright blue top and peacock mending his clothes, he was clearly a third-rank official. He couldn't help asking curiously, "Who are you? Get up and talk."

The man raised his head shyly, it turned out to be Lord Mu Tongmu, who had just been promoted to be Minister of Taichang Temple.Mu Tong was holding his previous position. Zeng Guofan smiled, supported Mu Tong with both hands, and dusted him off his clothes, and said, "Master Mu, don't do this. It is true that my sedan chair is blocking your way. Please get on the sedan chair quickly, sir. I missed my way." Mu Tong's guide and the second master of the sedan chair knelt behind Mu Tong together, frightened and said repeatedly: "Damn the slave! Die the slave!" The two of them didn't realize until then that the person sitting in the blue sedan chair was the same Officials with red caps. Seeing that Zeng Guofan didn't blame himself, Mu Tong let go of his heart, but he didn't dare to get into the sedan chair, so he bowed and asked Zeng Guofan to go first.Zeng Guofan couldn't refuse, so he had to go back to the sedan chair first, and ordered to move on, but he secretly said in his heart: "When you are an official, you should always be in awe. Don't rely on your talents and bully others. Mu Tong doesn't know this simple way of officialdom. It's really deplorable." Seeing that Zeng Guofan's sedan chair had left for a while, Mu Tong gave up the sedan chair... Soon after, Zeng Guofan discovered that the second master who helped Mu Tong's sedan chair had been replaced by another person; when Mu Tong greeted Zeng Guofan, he was somewhat unnatural.Zeng Guofan pretended nothing happened. A few days later, there was a complaint from the censor, who participated in Zeng Guofan's unreasonable lowering of the ceremonial standards, which caused chaos in the official system of the Qing Dynasty.The book was handed into the palace, and Emperor Daoguang, who was ill, only read half of it and approved the three words "neither to discuss".The censor who was on the fold was bored. However, there are fewer and fewer cases where the second guard of the green sedan chair is good at beating officials below the fourth rank. When the officials of the third rank and above travel, whether they intend to or not, they have to confess to the second guard of the sedan chair: "Keep your eyes open, the cabinet Master Zeng is sitting in a blue sedan chair!" On this day, before Zeng Guofan returned to the mansion to change his clothes, the young monk from Baoguo Temple broke in. The little monk handed a letter from Elder Yizhen to Zeng Guofan with both hands. Zeng Guofan hesitantly unfolded it. Seeing that there were only a few words written on it, he only wrote a few words: "Tonight, Mr. Jia is staying in our temple, accompanied by three women. Please tell me, Amitabha." After sending the little monk away, Zeng Guofan first asked Li Bao to take his own post, went to the Han army camp not far from Baoguo Temple outside the city to find Zhang Zuoling alone, and seconded fifty soldiers to meet him outside Baoguo Temple in an hour. get together.Li Bao agreed and hurried to go. Zhang Zuoling, whose name is Baoguo, was born in martial arts, and has done five-rank defense. He is an official under Zeng Guofan and the elder brother of Zhang Baohe, editor of the Imperial Academy.Zhang Baohe learned calligraphy from Zeng Guofan, and Zeng Guofan and Zhang Baoguo got acquainted. Li Bao left the mansion gate, and Zeng Guofan asked Liu Heng to prepare a sedan chair, and sat in the sedan chair without taking off his official uniform.Before leaving, he asked Zhou Sheng to inform the cook that he would have dinner after he came back. An hour later, the sedan chair arrived at the gate of Baoguo Temple. Zeng Guofan raised his head and looked up, seeing the silence around him, he knew that the soldiers seconded by Li Bao hadn't arrived yet. He was not in a hurry, so he simply went for a walk in the forest, just to exercise his body.The bushes in the forest are green, the breeze blows, and the grass leaves move slightly.Zeng Guofan couldn't help taking a few deep breaths, and suddenly felt a hint of sweetness in his throat.Most of the others stood beside the sedan chair, and some squatted on the ground, looking around. After waiting for another two moments, Li Baocai rushed over with Zhang Zuoling, who was dressed in the uniform of a fourth-rank military officer, and fifty other soldiers.Zhang Zuoling took a few steps ahead to greet Zeng Guofan, saying: "I hope you will forgive me for being late in a lowly position." Zeng Guofan pulled up the respectful Zhang Zuoling, and said seriously: "This department hall is also helpless. It is too late to call the yamen and arrest quickly, so I have to disturb Zuoling. Unexpectedly, Zuoling really came. The Headquarters of the Ministry of Tolerance will explain to the higher-ups." After finishing speaking, he signaled Liu Heng to open the door, he straightened his clothes, bent down and sat in the sedan chair.