Chapter 6 conspiracy to transfer

When he got up early the next morning, Zhou Yiming was already waiting, and he acted as a footman temporarily, running around to greet him, so even though Sister Aqiao was not around, Hu Xueyan felt no inconvenience.At the same time, I was thinking in my heart that I have always been looking for convenience and convenience, and I don’t like to bring a footman with me. It seems that if there is someone like Zhou Yiming with me, I might as well take it with me. In Shanghai, we should look for one carefully. After he finished washing, Zhou Yiming invited him to the city for morning tea.Hu Xueyan knew it well, so he replied repeatedly: "Okay, okay! After morning tea, I will take you to see He Xuetai and ask him to write a letter for you in person."

So I went into the city and had morning tea at the "Wu Yuan" tea shop.Tea shops in Suzhou are different from those in Hangzhou.Most of the tea shops in Hangzhou are open halls, and they treat everyone equally. Whether it is a gentleman or a peddler, the customers are all customers when they are seated; Sitting in the living room, drinking tea and eating all kinds of snacks, while away until ten o'clock, see if it's time, settle the accounts, and take a bus to Suzhou Fuxue to see He Guiqing. Because of Aiwujiwu, He Guiqing was also very polite to Zhou Yiming, offering to sit again and again. Zhou Yiming followed the rules of the officialdom and just stood there with his hands down. In the end, he was not satisfied, so he sat down with his buttocks on the edge of the chair, as if squatting.

Seeing his cramped situation, Hu Xueyan felt that he couldn't bear it, so he wanted to explain his purpose calmly. He Guiqing replied at that time: "Master Xu went to Shanghai to supervise the teacher himself." Then he turned to Hu Xueyan and asked, "Now there is a It's a good opportunity to collect taxes, I don't know if this Lord Zhou is willing to give in." "It's too heavy a word. I don't know which tax card it is?" "Now a new kind of 'likin' is created, you always know." "I've heard of it." Hu Xueyan replied, "I don't know exactly what's going on."

"It was planned by a strange man from Zhejiang. This person is a member of Xuexuan, from Changxing, Huzhou Prefecture, and his name is Qian Jiang—" Qianjiang, whose name is Dongping, was a supervisor in Changxing, Zhejiang Province. He was very talkative and tricky, like a first-class strategist in the Warring States Period.During the Opium War, he co-organized the Minister of the University's Ministry of Civil Affairs, Yi Jing of the clan, and was ordered to go to Zhejiang to supervise military affairs in the name of "General Yang Wei", and Qian Jiang offered advice, recruited strong men, attacked the British army by surprise, and captured its leader.How dare Yi Jing, who is afraid of embarrassment, use such a trick?Thank you for being sensitive.

Later, Lin Zexu was offended and sent to the garrison, and Qian Jiang broke the law in Guangzhou, so he was also exiled to Yili, where he met at the garrison, and Lin Zexu admired him deeply.When Lin Zexu was amnesty and entered the customs, he managed to get rid of his crimes and brought him into the customs. He boasted about him among the officials in the capital and became famous. Unfortunately, Lin Zexu died of illness soon, and Qian Jiangdun lost his support, so Xie Ce traveled between the Jianghuai River and met Lei Yicheng in Yangzhou.Two strategies are presented. The first strategy is to pre-obtain blank donation photos and fill them out at any time; the second strategy is to start Lijin.

If you are poor, you want to be rich, and if you are rich, you want to be expensive, it is human nature, so those who make a fortune in business, especially the salt merchants in Lianghuai, like to donate to officials, and donate to third-rank Taoists. , always looking for opportunities, such as serving the military supply, donating to Hegong, spending a lot of money to buy a "special protection", and getting a second-rank top-wearing red cap before he is willing to give up. However, the procedures for donating officials are very complicated, and the office of the Ministry of Officials is full of tricks. They are often "supplied" for one or two years, and a "ministerial photo" that proves the status of an official of several grades is still not available, which naturally affects the donation of officials. interest of.Qianjiang's method is specially designed for wealthy businessmen who want to get rid of official addiction, pay money with one hand, deliver goods with the other hand, and immediately fill in and issue a department photo after getting the exchange, which is extremely refreshing.Lei Yicheng thought this strategy was excellent, so he entrusted Qian Jiang to submit a memorial to explain the matter in detail. According to his method, the ministry's book office would not be beneficial, so the ministry was not sure about it at first.Helplessly, the national treasury is empty, and the tens of millions of silver accumulated during the Qianjia period have been spent by the imperial envoys led by Yijing, Qiying, Qishan, and Saishang'a since the Opium War in the Daoguang period. In order to deal with Hong Yang's uprising, the imperial court "wanted the horses to be good, but also wanted the horses not to eat grass."Therefore, Qian Jiang's ingenious strategy was finally approved.The Ministry brought a large number of blank donation photos, cash transactions, and no endless tips, it was fast and cheap, and people who donated officials naturally flocked to them.Lei Yicheng relied on this income to recruit Xiangyong, so that he could guard Yangzhou and Zhenjiang.

However, donating officials is just a one-off business, and the water flows for a long time, so we have to think of other ways, so there is lijin.The merchant tax in the Qing Dynasty was originally only a tariff.The bulk of the tax is money, grain, and land. Because of the loss of too much land, the revenue has been greatly reduced. The sales of the salt tax in the Lianghuai and Huaihe Rivers are also due to the impact of the war. The way to make up for it is to rely on lijin. The amount of tax is very light, but it adds up to a considerable amount.Firstly, Lei Yicheng set up a trial card in Yangzhou Fairy Temple, Shaobo Town and other canal piers, and the results were not bad. Therefore, the imperial court formally decreed that Yiliang, Governor of Liangjiang, Xu Naizhao, Governor of Jiangsu, and Yang Yizeng, Governor of Water Transport, would carry out the construction in Jiangnan and Jiangbei. Trial donations to help pay, so as to enrich military supplies.

After hearing He Guiqing's statement, Hu Xueyan deeply admired Qian Jiang and wanted to see him, but it was impossible for a while, so he had to put it aside and make plans for Zhou Ming. "He was born in the Navy, and he is an acquaintance at the canals and the docks of the Yangtze River. If he is cultivated by Mr. Yun, he will definitely not be in trouble when he is an errand, and he will destroy Mr. Yun's platform." "I know, I know, Zhou Jun is also a very capable person, and besides, it is your recommendation, he must be appreciated." He Guiqing said, "I will write a letter right away, please sit down!"

After all, he retreated into the study and wrote a letter in his own hand.Although He Guiqing did not become a great official in the frontier, he was already a governor. Two eight-line papers, written in walnut-sized characters, called Lei Yicheng "senior" in order of department names.Hu Xueyan accepted the letter to thank Zhou Ming, and Zhou Ming kowtowed to thank him. "You go back first!" Hu Xueyan said to Zhou Yiming, "I still have to talk to Mr. He." After Zhou Yiming left, He Guiqing told Hu Xueyan that Xu Naizhao, governor of Jiangsu Province, had been transferred. "I received a secret letter from Beijing early this morning." He said, "I want to wait until later."

Xu Naizhao transferred, why did he have to wait?After thinking about it, Hu Xueyan understood that He Guiqing must have the possibility to take over the job, so he might as well wait and see. Hu Xueyan felt that this change of mind would be very detrimental to him, so he wanted to persuade him to stick to the original plan, first move to be transferred to be the assistant of the storehouse, and then be transferred to Zhejiang to be the governor. For Ji Heling, he has the joy of being able to get everything right and left, and everything goes smoothly. Guessing in secret is inconvenient to persuade, if the guess is wrong, it becomes aimless, which is a ridiculous thing.So after a little thought, I came up with a set of arguments.

"The governor of Jiangsu used to be the number one in the world, but now, I think he is the last one waiting." He suddenly made such a comment. Of course He Guiqing should pay attention, "Su Fu's shortcomings are not as real as before," he said, "but they will not be reduced to the last." "I'm talking nonsense, I'm asking Duke Yun for advice." Hu Xueyan said slowly, thinking about the last reason, and thought of one point to say, "The first is that there is great chaos in Jiangsu. If there are fewer places, there will be less money and food." "Fortunately, Su Song's fertile land is still in our hands." Hu Xueyan didn’t want to say that Su Song was hard to protect, “It’s very difficult to keep it. Liu Lichuan is still in Shanghai. Let’s not talk about it. Second, Jiangsu has too many officials.” He said, “The good thing about Zhejiang is that the governor is the only one! " "Ah!" He Guiqing nodded deeply, "Your words make sense. Governors in the same city are indeed troublesome. Either the east wind overwhelms the west wind, or the west wind overwhelms the east wind." "I'm afraid it won't be easy for the governor to overwhelm the governor, so I won't talk about it. Thirdly," Hu Xueyan said, "Master Xiang from Jiangnan Daying, I heard it's difficult to serve. Mr. Yun, do you have anything to say?" Of course there are.He Guiqing thought to himself, the arrogant soldiers in the Jiangnan camp are unknown, and Xiang Rong's difficult to wait for is nothing else.So I originally wanted to wait for an opportunity in Jiangsu, planning to take over Xu Naizhao's vacancy, and my mind was shaken. Seeing that he was silent, Hu Xueyan guessed his thoughts, and mobilized him with threatening words: "The local officials will live and die with the city. Let me speak privately for our Hangzhou fellow Master Xu. If we can mobilize a vacancy, it will really be a blessing in disguise. How can I know that it is not a blessing." This sentence really touched He Guiqing, he is the most timid, although he is full of arrogance on paper, in fact he is most afraid of fighting.It seems that Jiangsu has really become the last class, so why ask for trouble, let's go to Beijing! I have made up my mind, but it is inconvenient to say it clearly, I just nodded repeatedly: "The theory is very high, I admire it." "I don't know what it is, but there is a good saying: 'The onlooker can see clearly.' It's not about the gains and losses. It's clearer to see things." "That's right." He Guiqing replied, "I'm just looking for someone like my brother, please give me some pointers." "Duke Yun's words are too much, it really makes me blush." ​​He took advantage of the situation and stood up, "I will take my leave now, and I will bid farewell to Duke Yun by the way." "What?" He Guiqing suddenly looked disappointed, "You just left like this?" "Yes, I am going to leave for Shanghai early tomorrow morning." "Then—" He Guiqing pondered for a long time and said, "Let's meet in Shanghai! It won't be long." "Yes! I will prepare the money as soon as I return to Shanghai, and I will wait for Mr. Yun's call at any time." "There is one more thing, anyway, please take care of me." Hu Xueyan was taken aback for a moment, but then realized that in fact, the matter was half successful, so he said confidently: "Don't worry, Mr. Yun, once you arrive in Shanghai, there will be good news." He Guiqing was naturally happy, but overly happy, he felt emotional, "Unexpectedly, this time I became a close friend with brother Xueyan for no reason." He shook his head and said, "Life in this world is all about fate, it's incredible when you think about it. " Hu Xueyan's situation is roughly similar to his. In addition, Wang Youling, the three of them are far and wide. I don't know what force drives them together, and they are able to get together like a jigsaw puzzle. , is really ingenious.So I sympathize with what he said. "Mr. Yun, when it comes to fate, there are still things that you can't think of." He continued, "I won't talk about it right now. It's not fun to talk about it. I only hope that you will be before the festival sooner, and after the festival later. When you arrive Shanghai, let's talk again." Hearing what he said, He Guiqing didn't want to ask any more questions, and just said: "Okay, okay! Let's talk again. A good meeting is not far away, so I won't see you off." "If you don't dare, I won't come to say goodbye anymore." He stood up and bowed. "Please wait a moment." After He Guiqing finished speaking, he hurried into the study again, and he didn't show up again for a long time.He was writing the famous post with his own hand, and it was too late to write the letter, so he had to use the famous post, a total of seven or eight, from Suzhou to Shanghai, the civil and military officials who were in charge of one side along the road, all had his famous post to pay tribute to.Greetings are a facade, but they are actually an introduction for Hu Xueyan. "You don't need to prepare it!" He Guiqing handed over a stack of famous posts, "The depth of friendship can be seen from the wording. Whether you should use it or not, and how to use it, you can decide for yourself." "With these few famous posts from Mr. Yun, it's like sending a hundred soldiers to protect them. You can sleep all the way to Shanghai. Thank you, thank you!" "I will reply to Xuexuan's letter separately. Here and Zhejiang, there are postmen every day, which is very convenient. I don't have to trouble you to forward the letter." On the one hand, He Guiqing said, on the other hand, he saw the guests off in person, and the system was closed until they were sent to the second gate.When Hu Xueyan returned to the inn, he sent someone to deliver four dishes, a newly engraved poem, and another heavy wooden box. When he opened it, it was a "steam pot". "It's hard for your adults to think of it." "My lord, please tell me," the servant named He Fu said, "Master Hu's friendship is unique, so he asked me to ask Mr. Hu for instructions. If there is anything else, I will wait on Mr. Hu before he boards the boat and goes back. .” "No, no! I have someone, please go back and thank me for me." After finishing speaking, I took a red envelope from Sister Aqiao's hair comb box. There are many red envelopes, which are for rewarding people, ranging in weight and weight. The most important thing is a silver ticket of five taels. A sort of.