Chapter 120 Section 120 Donate money to the country

After getting on the official road, Zeng Guofan suddenly called Li Bao to the front of the sedan chair and said, "Li Bao, the main hall has been frightened for the past few days. After taking a break yesterday, I dreamed of the old lady again. It's not strange!" Li Baodao: "My lord, you always miss the old lady dearly, and only when you think about it day in and day out do you dream about it at night. Sometimes it's like this in a humble job, you don't have to take it to heart." Zeng Guofan said: "Tell Liu Heng to be more vigilant along the way. This time when the Headquarters came to Jiangxi to preside over the rural examination, I was always a little flustered, as if there was some bad news waiting ahead. It has never been like this before. Dare Is it really 'grow horns to fear wolves'?"

Liu Heng also came over at this time and said, "Your Excellency, the long hairs in Guangxi are scaring you." A group of people talked and laughed, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.There is a way to open a road in every mountain and build a bridge when you meet a river. Today you will cross the state and tomorrow you will cross the county.It's all right. A month later, the group successfully entered Anhui. In Taihe County, Anhui, there is a small pond post station next to the official road, which is a must-see place for official errands in the past.Because this is an official post set up by the imperial court, all the past officials who have been on official errands have to send a letter back when they arrive at this post, stating that they will arrive at Xiaochi in a few days and when, so that the imperial court can have a grasp of the officials who go out on official business; Most of the court postings are also handed over here for officials to look at.

Seeing that it was an official post, Zeng Guofan asked the bearer to park the sedan chair at the door, and asked Liu Heng and the guards to watch over the luggage, then took Li Bao and walked into the post.He wants to send a letter to the Ministry of Rites here, and report to the court that he is safe. As soon as the post officer saw the red-capped official coming in, he hurried over to greet him, and said: "The next official will pick up the sedan chair and I hope you will forgive me for being late. I don't know where you are going to go, what should I do?" Zeng Guofan said: "The servant of the Ministry of Rites, Zeng Guofan, came to Jiangxi to preside over the rural examination, and he came here specially to pay homage to the emperor!"

The post officer hurriedly said: "So it's Mr. Zeng. Please sit in the small official hall!" As he spoke, he led the way. Zeng Guofan was at a loss for words, but at this moment, a man in white hurriedly ran in from outside, he couldn't help but startled Li Bao, and the post officer hurriedly stood up. The man went straight to Zeng Guofan, turned over and knelt down, saying, "The third son of the Nan family has seen the young master!" "What?" Zeng Guofan was taken aback, and hurriedly helped the man up, and it turned out to be the third brother of the Nan family.

Zeng Guofan asked anxiously: "Third Brother, why did you come here? Why are you dressed like this?" When the third brother of the Nan family heard this, he turned over and fell to his knees again, choked up for a long time before saying: "Young master, grandma is dead!" "Ah!" Zeng Guofan yelled, closed his eyes, and fell back. Li Bao stretched out his hand to help him, and the third brother of the Nan family also came to help; the two managed to help Zeng Guofan into the small official hall. The post officer hastily poured a bowl of hot tea over, Li Bao opened Zeng Guofan's teeth and poured it in, but he couldn't get it in!

The third brother of the Nan family was so frightened that he had no choice but to cry in Zeng Guofan's ear: "Master, you can't just go like this. The old lady's funeral is still waiting for you to pay for it!" Li Bao Ye yelled again and again: "My lord, you can always wake up!" The two called for a while, before Zeng Guofan's face turned red, and after a pause, he heard a click in his throat, and the sound of exhaling from his mouth began. At this moment, the post officer poured another cup of hot tea, and Li Bao took it in his hand, and said: "My lord, have a sip of tea!" and handed the teacup to Zeng Guofan's lips.

Zeng Guofan opened his mouth and took a slow breath, then opened his eyes, and the tears began to flow non-stop.After crying for a while, Zeng Guofan stopped his tears and asked the third brother of the Nan family, "When did the old lady leave?" The third brother of the Nan family said: "It's the twelfth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar. I got old the next day. I rushed to Beijing that night. When I arrived in Beijing, Zhou Sheng said that the young master had already left. I took a shortcut Come to the inn next to here and wait, and finally I didn't miss it."

According to the Daqing official system, no matter what kind of job an official is doing, once a father or mother is lost, the official must leave his post and return to his hometown to observe mourning for three years.This is Ding You or Ding Jian. At that time, Zeng Guofan paid homage to the emperor at the post station and distributed the excerpt "Ding's mother is worried about returning home to observe filial piety, please ask another member to try Jiangxi".That night, a group of people stayed in the inn next to the station.That night, Zeng Guofan stayed up all night. After breakfast, Zeng Guofan called Li Bao, Liu Heng and the three guards who came with him to the front, and said: "Ding You from the main department has returned to his hometown, and he has sent a special offer to the emperor. The main hall will return to Hunan with the third brother tomorrow. I had no choice but to go back to Beijing to return to my life. Li Bao and Liu Heng, I am sorry to bother you two to send a message to Zhou Sheng when you arrive in the capital, asking him to return the house to Dong Weng, and he will bring the pots and jars at home to meet me in Hunan! We We will only meet again three years later. Two thousand taels of Cheng Yi and the Ministry of Officials' Message will also be brought back by several people. Let's load all the things into a carriage, and leave a cart and a sedan chair for the main hall. The few of you can only take a carriage to return to Beijing." Li Bao and the other five knelt down together, weeping together, and after they finished their tears, they were busy loading things into a carriage.

Zeng Guofan asked the third brother of the Nan family to take the burden, and took out a hundred taels of silver from it and handed it to Li Baodao: "This is a hundred taels of silver, let's use it as money for a few people to go back to Beijing, if it's too much, the main hall can't get it out. " The five people refused to accept them to the death, but Zeng Guofan resolutely refused, and after a while, they reluctantly accepted them. After parting, Li Bao suddenly said to Zeng Guofan: "My lord, according to our system of upright officials, there is no need to return the two thousand taels of Cheng Yi, why should your lord..."

Zeng Guofan said: "The head of the Ministry is the Minister of the Five Departments, so how could he not know the system of upright officials! But now it is different from the past, the court now spends money everywhere. Only when the Headquarters went to the Ministry of Households to collect Cheng Yi did it know that the national inventory of silver is only five. One hundred thousand taels. The court’s current one tael of silver is worth the thousand taels in the past!” Hearing this, Li Bao and Liu Heng burst into tears again. After they left, Zeng Guofan took off his official uniform and hat, and asked the third brother of the Nan family to make a bag, carefully put it in the carriage, and then put it on. The filial piety clothes and filial hats I bought just now are all wrapped up in white.

Before getting on the sedan chair, Zeng Guofan said to the third elder brother of the Nan family: "Third elder brother, from now on I am no longer an official. You can only call me by my first name or young master, and don't call me an adult anymore, so as not to make a joke. .Did you hear me?" The third brother of the Nan family said: "Young master, Ding You will recover in only three years, aren't you still a second-rank servant?" Zeng Guofan said to himself: "The present three years are different from the past three years. Who knows what will happen in these three years?" Zeng Guofan got into the sedan chair, and the third brother of the Nan family got into the carriage.On the originally quiet official road, there was a messy sound of horseshoes...