The company commander of the escort was very discerning. When he saw that Fu Qing had stopped talking, he poured him a cup of tea and then left the carriage. Fu Qing was the only one in the huge carriage.
After hearing what the soldier said, Fu Qing became more worried. He originally thought that Luo Huo and the Qing Dynasty could still have a friendly relationship, but it seemed that there was not much hope at this moment.
The Four Heavenly Kings under Xiao Letian are also direct descendants of the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom. They belong to the first wave of veterans. Most of the people who make up this wave of courtiers have no close relationship with the Manchus.
Xiao Hexin, Wang Ju, Sima Yun, Luo Huo... among the Four Heavenly Kings, three are hairy remnants, and the rest of the officials of the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom are even more alienated from the Qing Dynasty.
Luo Huo had a special status. Fu Qing once investigated Luo Huo's background. He was a child from an ordinary poor family in Zhili. He lived a miserable life, but he had no blood debt between his family and Manchu.
After all, he grew up under the rule of the Qing Dynasty during his childhood and youth, and he still had some affection. This was also an emotional card that the court wanted to play in negotiations with him.
In fact, the imperial court had given him enough face. The village in Luo Huo's hometown had long been established as a tax-free place, and no one from the local county government dared to collect taxes there.
Furthermore, Luo Huo arranged for a business as a wholesale base for agricultural products in his hometown, purchasing large quantities of farmed eggs, poultry, and meat... and then selling them to Tanggu Industrial Zone on a large scale.
Luo Huo's hometown has long been fat and oily. These are all buried foreshadowings that can be discussed one day in the future.
But what happened today made Fu Qing's heart sink. It seems that Luo Huo is not so easy to deal with!
"Stone sculptures? What stone sculptures? The train can only go south to Zhuozhou, and the railways further south are blocked by the rebels. Whose stone sculptures can the train buy?"
"A fool can also imagine that this stone sculpture must have been bought from the rebels. It is difficult to say whether he bought it or not. Luo Huo not only provided the imperial court with the protection of railway troops, but also had interests with the rebels. ?”
"What kind of direct lineage is this? Is Guiziliu bribing Luo Huo? Or does Luo Huo simply want to purchase stone sculptures? Anyway, no matter what, there is a problem here..."
With a hint of bitterness in his mouth, Fu Qing recited the names of the four heavenly kings in his heart: "Xiao Hexin, the wise king, Wang Huaiyuan, the worried king, Sima Yun, the cold king..."
"Duo Bao Tian Wang Luo Huo... How many people have been deceived by your nickname? In fact, you also have evil ideas!"
"That's right. After studying with Xiao Letian for so many years, and working hard in the Chinese upper echelons for so many years, you are no longer the irritable and irritable young man you used to be..."
"Is... Xiao Letian really allowed to drain the gold reserves of the Qing Dynasty? Is there no other way to buy food and arms?"
The train kept moving forward, and the various shadows moving quickly outside the window in the dark night, the villages, woods, rivers... were changing postures like ghosts, and Fu Qing's head began to hurt.
He was not the only one who had a headache. Li Tuo, who stayed behind in the capital, also had a splitting headache!
Under the protection of a company of guards, Li Tuo entered the capital from Guangqumen and returned to the office of the General Post Office of the Qing Dynasty to prepare for tomorrow's work.
Along the way, he witnessed three counter-insurgency massacres. The entire alley was like a rat's nest being poured into boiling water, with groups of bannermen springing out to do their jobs.
The capital police were chasing behind them, and the Yulin New Army on both sides opened fire. Rows of spies were beaten to death right in front of Li Tuo.
The suppressed Yulin New Army saw that it was Li Tuo's banner, and the guards around them were all Kaizima and comrades selected from the new army. They did not dare to be disrespectful, stood at attention and saluted, and immediately began to clean up the battlefield.
There were corpses on the ground still bleeding out. They were not even dead yet, so they were dragged by the soldiers by their ankles and even by their braids to a dark place.
The final fate of these half-dead people is a mass grave!
Li Tuo couldn't bear to close his eyes. He knew many people here. If you want to hang out in the officialdom of the capital, you can't do it without remembering the big men among the bannermen.
How many people have had tea together and listened to the opera together. In the past, the aloof man who carried the bird in the cage has now become a puddle of rotten meat on the ground because of a single thought!
"Hey... let's go... hurry back and set up defenses. The longer this battle drags on, the more people will die..."
The General Post Office of the Qing Dynasty is located on East Chang'an Street, next to the Chinese embassy. It is too close to the Forbidden City, and the towering turrets of the palace wall can be seen in the yard.
As soon as I arrived at the door of the post office, I saw a group of palace guards and eunuchs doing something at the door. When I walked in, I saw that it was Xiao Sixi and others waiting at the door.
When Xiao Sixi saw Li Tuo coming back, her face immediately smiled like a flower. She quickly walked over and saluted Li Tuo who had not dismounted.
"Mr. Li Jixiang, you have worked hard. You have to be busy patrolling the city at night. Long live my trust in you, you have really chosen the right person!"
Li Tuo didn't dare to take the big shot and quickly jumped off his horse and returned the favor with a thousand salutes. "Oh... the manager is a subordinate of Zhe Sha. Why should I be a subordinate and salute the manager? Isn't this worthy of death?"
"Yes, yes... Master Li is now a first-class sword-carrying guard, carrying a flag and setting a yellow flag. This is an unprecedented adventure!"
"Isn't this... I just had a cup of ginseng soup in the evening, and suddenly I thought of you, so I asked you to bring me a pot of it as soon as possible. Please watch carefully. This is what is left after two bowls of it. It’s such a great kindness to be able to reward you!”
Li Tuo's knees banged and he knelt on the ground facing the direction of the Forbidden City with tears in his eyes: "My lord... thank you for your kindness! Long live, long live, long live!"
"Oh...return your vassal? Sir, you have to call yourself a slave. You are wearing a yellow flag. From now on, you can call yourself a slave in front of the Long Live Lord..."
"Look...what a decent thing this is...Come on, come on, I'll serve a bowl for you, please drink slowly. After drinking, I have some private matters to ask you!"
"I don't dare to ask you for my father-in-law. Please tell me if you have anything to say..."
Xiao Sixi stepped back from the people waiting around and said to Li Tuo with a smile, "Well...Didn't the manager Da Sixi and I buy two houses in Nancheng? Just east of Dashilan..."
"Hi... Originally, everything was in good repair, with grouting joints in the blue bricks and garden pavilions, but I didn't expect that my daughter-in-law would become obsessed with the cement floor for some reason. She didn't like the good tile floor... …”
"Oh, this cement is very difficult to get now. They are all good products imported from the Chinese... I really can't get it!"
"When my daughter-in-law saw that I couldn't get anything from her, she became anxious and encouraged Grandpa Xi's daughter-in-law to join in the trouble. Now our two families are making a fuss about having cement to lay the ground, saying it's not clean..."
"Now the cement in the capital is in Mr. Li's hands. Sir, you have to be more generous..."
