Chapter 6 Section VI

He Muqiao, the captain of Guangning City, has been quite restless recently.Since Emperor Xuantong issued the abdication edict on February 12th, he, the city guard appointed by the Qing Dynasty, has become a motherless child. I don't know how this official will be in the next step-whose salary will he eat?For whom?On March 11, the Nanjing Provisional Government promulgated the "Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China", which finally clarified that former officials like He Muqiao could continue to serve as long as they supported the Provisional Constitution.Afterwards, the immediate boss, General Sheng Jing, also sent a verbal order from Fengtian: All officers and soldiers in all cities should maintain order and wait for orders.This gave him some confidence, so he hurriedly drafted a memorial (he used to call it a memorial when he wrote to the emperor) and prepared to present it to the great president named Sun Yat-sen, but Sun Yat-sen was in Nanjing, not Beijing. I don't know how to present the memorial, but it was not presented for a while.Not long after, I heard that Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing was unstable. Not long after, he resigned from the post of president and went to the field. He used to be the right servant of the Ministry of Industry and the governor of Shandong, and later the governor of Zhili, the minister of Beiyang, and finally Yuan Shikai, who was also the prime minister of the cabinet, revived the court in Beijing and became the president. He hurriedly tore up the memorial to Sun Yat-sen and wrote another memorial to Yuan Shikai.But this time he was more thoughtful and didn't send it out immediately, because he was afraid that Yuan Shikai would be like Sun Yat-sen, who went up for two and a half days, and went down again before he was seated on the presidential throne, so he decided to calm down and wait and see what happened.

At this juncture, Cheng Hanqing, the imperial doctor of Yaowangmiao Town in the jurisdiction, moved his family back from the capital. Because He Muqiao's father also learned medicine from Cheng Hanqing's father Cheng Yunhe for a few days, he and Cheng Hanqing had a brotherly friendship. , and hurriedly called on Cheng Hanqing to find out what was going on in Beijing.From Cheng Hanqing's mouth, I learned that the Qing Dynasty is exhausted, and the new dynasty and new policies are bound to replace it.He then understood that his salary in the Qing Dynasty had already been exhausted, and he could only wait and see what happened in the future, taking one step at a time.He said that he regretted that he had strayed into his official career, and envied his elder brother for his unswerving determination and dedication to Xinglin. Now that he is a master of medicine, he will not be abandoned by current politics. Although Sun Yat-sen of the Republic of China wants to ban Chinese medicine, he has not been recognized by everyone. It seems that the matter of banning Chinese medicine is over.Later, he proposed that the younger daughter He Ruohan be betrothed to the Cheng family's twin brothers, but Cheng Hanqing fully agreed, and the two families made an agreement between Qin and Jin.

Unexpectedly, things were a little ominous from the very beginning - yesterday the Cheng family sent someone to give the dowry, they didn't want to be robbed by bandits halfway, which would embarrass the face of his local parents.Just imagine, the bandits who gave him the bride price of the respected family in this place would dare to rob him, and the prestige of He Muqiao in the eyes of the bandits is self-evident.For this reason, he gritted his teeth with hatred, lay on the bed at night and analyzed the local bandits one by one, and found that the most suspicious one was Zhao Yizhuo, the leader of the Luyang Mountain bandits.This man was born as a pharmaceutical worker in Yaowangmiao Town. His ancestors planted medicines, made medicines, and opened medicine shops to sell medicines for a living. Later, he had a dispute with the tax bureau's special agent because of tax matters. He was punished for resisting taxes, and the entire pharmacy was confiscated, forcing his wife to commit suicide.After that, Zhao Yizhuo turned into a bandit and gathered some local desperadoes Xiaoju Luyang Mountain to become bandits.Over the past few years, bandits from all walks of life in the city have merged with each other, and the weak preyed on the strong. Other bandits have declined day by day. Only Zhao Yizhuo and his gang have become more and more famous. They mostly rob property and harass the local tyrants and evil gentry.However, not long ago, in order to pay reparations to the eight countries of Britain, Russia, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Austria, the imperial court suddenly increased taxes, which caused several anti-tax riots in the local area. There have been unexpected encounters and confrontations, but they quickly withdrew their troops without intensifying the friction.Even so, in order to warn He Muqiao, Zhao Yizhuo might send someone to rob the Cheng family's dowry.Of course, he really did this to offend the Cheng family, but since he is a bandit, it is hard to say common sense.

In order to find out the bandits who stole the dowry as soon as possible, He Muqiao decided to discuss a solution with Yanxiong, the officer and soldier of the city, Xiaoqi school Guo Yanxiong, and rushed to the guard's yamen after breakfast. Guo Yanxiong, an officer and soldier in Xiaoqi School in Guangning City, is the son of Guo Shengsan, a famous doctor in the city. Guo Shengsan is the disciple of He Muqiao's father. Cultivated under the bridge.At that time, he was still at a young age and unsophisticated. It was He Muqiao who treated him like a adopted son and carefully trained him to make him what he is today.Usually he followed He Muqiao step by step and was very loyal. When he heard that He Muqiao had something to ask him, he rushed to see He Muqiao.

He Muqiao hadn't had time to talk to Guo Yanxiong about the robbery of the Cheng family's dowry, when his master came to report: "The master of Luyang Mountain, Zhao Yizhuo, asked to see him." He Muqiao never expected that Zhao Yizhuo, who hadn't seen him for many years, would come to see him, and he had a premonition that it must be related to the dowry, so he said to the master: "Please." Zhao Yizhuo appeared in front of He Muqiao with bare hands and short attire, followed by a follower with a box cannon slung across his hand and a big red package in his hand.When Zhao Yizhuo saw He Muqiao, he bowed deeply and said: "Master Shouwei, Yizhuo's subordinates don't understand the rules, misunderstood other people's bewitching, robbed the Cheng family's dowry, and offended Lord Shouwei. Today, Yizhuo personally came to make amends, Return the betrothal gift, please take a look at it."

"Haha..." He Muqiao looked up to the sky and laughed, and then pretended to be relaxed and said, "I said just now that Brother Yizhuo's subordinates must have played a joke on me. It really is so, isn't it?" "The subordinates don't know who the dowry is, but it was under the secret guidance of Lord Shouwei that this mistaken robbery happened." Zhao Yizhuo said. "Oh? Is there such a thing? Yan Xiong, you have to investigate carefully, who is so daring!" "Yes." Guo Yanxiong repeated repeatedly.