Before coming this time, Fan Dao knew that even his wife had already reached a partial agreement with the King of England. But this time the Fan family did not bleed heavily, and it was almost impossible to calm the King of England's anger. If the King of England in front of them is still the King of England before, the Fan family can ignore it. There is only an empty title. The position is indeed extremely honorable, but it has neither strength nor power.
This empty-headed King of England may not be able to do anything with the Fan family. The reason why the clan of this dynasty is feared by officials is because after taking over the vassal, they have certain responsibilities to supervise all officials in the vassal area. Every time an official is evaluated, the evaluation given by these clans is very important. This British king has not yet become a vassal, and the local officials of Xiangyang Prefecture will not buy his account at all. The Fan family didn't care about him, so there was nothing he could do.
But it is different now. The British king is now ordered to supervise the country and govern the country. Before he went to Longyou, he heard that the emperor was basically not in charge anymore and all the power was delegated to him. Now in the court, he can be said to be inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people, and his words are even more precise. Now he serves as the ambassador of the Second Route of Longyou and Shaanxi. He not only controls the civil and military officials of the Second Route, but also has tens of thousands of troops under his command.
Even if he can't touch the original Fan family, it is not difficult to uproot the Fan family in the northwest. What's more, judging from Fan Dao's experience in dealing with officialdom people over the years. If the British king is really determined to seduce the Fan family, even though the governor is away at the moment, there are still many flatterers among the officials on Huguang North Road and Xiangyang Mansion.
With a single order, he could dispatch thousands of troops and horses to Xiangyang. Then it would not be difficult for the Fan family to be wiped out with a single warrant. So when Fan Dao came to Ningxia Mansion this time, he dragged Fan Jian to wait for him to send his wife back, so he was prepared for the Fan family to bleed. He has even decided that if the British king is too aggressive, the Fan family can give up the interests of the entire northwest.
But he didn't expect that the British king actually made these two requests. Although it is a bit difficult for the Fan family to openly compete with the Guilin County Prince's Palace. But in this matter, the Fan family also has both opportunities and challenges. If we can really take advantage of the imperial court's recent opportunity to win over overseas trade, it will be of great benefit to the Fan family without any harm. The Fan family took a gamble, but it was still acceptable.
As long as the Fan family is not allowed to become the King of England or the lackeys of the imperial court, killing people and setting fires for the imperial court. Like Bai Shatang, he became a tool for the British king to eradicate dissidents. Now it seems that these two conditions of the British King are not impossible to accept at all. It seemed that his wife had worked hard to convince the British king to give up her original intention of completely integrating the Fan family for her own use.
Thinking of this, Fan Dao felt very distressed. He had traveled thousands of miles in the past few days. After returning to Chang'an, my wife looked very haggard. However, if Fan Dao knew that the British king in front of him gave in, his wife would be eaten clean by the British king. The child in the belly now is very likely to be the child of the British king, and the British king has to give in because of guilt.
In the end, he gave up the original idea of forcing the Fan family to completely surrender and turned it into his own control, becoming his own independent intelligence system and financial resources. Instead, he pushed the Fan family out and directly competed with the Guilin County Prince's Palace on his behalf. If he knew what happened to his wife in Lingzhou during those few days, would he want to cut into pieces the King of England who had taken advantage of him and was still acting like a good boy here?
Fan Dao, who still didn't know the real reason for Huang Qiong's concession, did not immediately respond to Huang Qiong's request. Instead, he pondered for a long time before replying: "It's not that the Fan family can't agree to the two requests of the King of England. It's just that this matter is very serious. If the Fan family agrees to the King of England, they will almost transfer all their original industries. Therefore, this You need to report the matter to the head of the family before you can give the King of England an answer."
When Fan Dao was thinking before, he didn't see Huang Qiong's left hand, which kept spinning the string of cold jade beads. Maybe even if he saw it, he wouldn't care too much. Because he didn't know what Huang Qiong meant every time he turned this rosary. At most, they just thought that the King of England believed in Buddhism. Even though the string of cold jade rosary beads was priceless, Fan Dao wouldn't care too much.
But he didn't notice it, but Fan Jian beside him did. Based on Fan Jian's understanding of Huang Qiong, he knew that every time Huang Qiong turned the rosary, it meant that the British king was upset. He didn't know that his sister-in-law had a past with Huang Qiong, so Fan Jian, who didn't know why Huang Qiong was upset at this time, turned a little pale.
Because he thought that Huang Qiong was upset at this time because of his brother's reply. But in this matter, even though Fan Jian has always been resourceful, he didn't know how to comfort him. Because he knew that this kind of thing was not of ordinary importance to the Fan family. Although Fan Dao now has great power, he cannot make the final decision on such a major matter that almost determines the fate of the Fan family.
You have to go back and ask the head of the family, that is, your grandfather for instructions. If Fan Dao agrees now and the head of the family disagrees, the Fan family will be even more embarrassed by then. Thinking of this, Fan Jian opened his mouth to persuade. But for a moment, he didn't know how to speak. It's not that he doesn't want to persuade the King of England and give the Fan family some time to think, or at least to ask for instructions.
But looking at Huang Qiong's somewhat uncertain expression, he didn't know how to speak. Just when Fan Jian was hesitant, Huang Qiong suddenly said: "Okay, I will give the Fan family two months. Presumably, these two months are enough for the Fan family to think carefully. . I hope that the Fan family can consider it carefully and give an answer that will never disappoint me."
When Huang Qiong said the last sentence, his tone was very serious. But Fan Dao heard the meaning of Huang Qiong's accentuated words. He stood up, cupped his hands towards Huang Qiong and said, "Dao, we will quickly return to Xiangyang and convey the King of England's two requests to the head of the house exactly as they are. And the head of the house, Dao will also do some persuasion, try his best not to It will disappoint the King of England.”
At this point, Fan Dao, who was afraid that the British king would change his mind again, did not dare to delay any longer. After bowing his hand to Huang Qiong, he hurriedly left Huang Qiong's residence. It's not that he was too eager about this matter, but that Fan Dao was worried that if the delay continued, the King of England would change. Now if the King of England proposes any unacceptable conditions, the Fan family may not have room to bargain.
In fact, the reason why Huang Qiong proposed to let the Fan family become a powerful force in the northwest was that he was responsible for doing business on the surface, but in fact, he was also responsible for the business network responsible for collecting intelligence in all aspects. It's because Huang Qiong has never forgotten Tuoba Jiqian's words before his death. It was those words that subtly confirmed what Huang Qiong had guessed before, that the rebellion in Ningxia Mansion was not as simple as it seemed.
It's just that Huang Qiong has always guessed that the person who made Tuoba move to rebel at this unsuitable time for rebellion was the King of Shu who had disappeared for almost a year and his whereabouts had not been found out yet. Huang Qiong has always believed that only the King of Shu in the northwest has this ability. Because Longyou and Liangchuan, which are the areas of power of the King of Shu, can be said to be connected by mountains and rivers. It is not difficult for the King of Shu to penetrate here.
As for Nanzhen Fusi, they did almost nothing during the rebellion of the Ningxia Prefecture Party members. No situation was discovered in advance, and information provided afterwards was slow. This time the army put down the rebellion, almost all the useful things were provided by the Fan family. The low efficiency of Nanzhen Fusi made Huang Qiong more and more intolerable. But now he has neither the talent nor the resources to build his own intelligence network.
What's more, although the old man has handed over most of the real power to him, and even handed over part of the military power to him, the old man still firmly controls yamen like the North and South Town Fusi in his hands. Even this time Longyou suppressed the rebellion, he had always cooperated with himself, rather than being transferred to himself. The commander of Nanzhen Fusi stationed in Longyou has not shown a single face from the time he put down the rebellion until now.
Under such circumstances, he ordered them to track down the King of Shu, not to mention whether he could mobilize them. Even if he is transferred, it is difficult to guarantee what the old man will think, or even whether he will intervene. Huang Qiong knew very well that the old man had complicated thoughts about the former queen's only remaining son. Even if you look like you are filled with hatred, when you actually take action, you may not really be able to make this determination.
If the old man had really made up his mind, it would have been impossible for the King of Shu to escape from the capital. If you investigate the person behind this incident, whether it is the King of Shu. Not only does Nanzhen Fusi not necessarily play any role, it might actually become a constraint when the time comes. Under such circumstances, the efficiency of the Fan family's intelligence became Huang Qiong's only means to replace the unreliable Nanzhen Fusi.
Only then did Huang Qiong put forward the two conditions, and the first one seemed particularly urgent to Huang Qiong. Although he didn't know why the King of England insisted on the Fan family's intelligence network in the northwest, as Huang Qiong's personal aide, Nanzhen Fusi didn't quite listen to the King's orders, so Fan Jian still knew something about it. In Fan Jian's view, the British king suppressed his anger because he was dissatisfied with Fan Dao's failure to immediately agree to the first clause.
Perhaps in the King of England's view, this first clause was harmless to the Fan family, and Fan Dao should agree to it first. But this time, Fan Jian's guess was somewhat wrong. After Fan Dao left, Huang Qiong looked at the darkening sky outside the door, wondering what he was thinking and remained silent. After a long time, he said: "In a moment, I will give Brother Fan a Cheng Yi, which may not be too much."
"But it is enough to express my gratitude to Brother Fan for advising me this year. Brother Fan will take these Cheng Yi and return to the Fan family tomorrow. Since Brother Fan stays with me, I still have some thoughts in my heart. Since I am thinking about the Fan family, it is better to return to my family, so as not to prevent people from being around me and still thinking about the Fan family. I don’t dare to use half-hearted people, and I really can’t afford to use them.”
After Huang Qiong finished speaking, Fan Jian knew immediately where the King of England's previous gloomy expression came from. This is because he is dissatisfied with himself for staying in Chang'an for a long time to cooperate with his brother and sister-in-law to deal with family affairs in the northwest. As an adviser to the King of England, at this time, he failed to perform his duties for the sake of family affairs. This would be intolerable for anyone else.
Fan Jian, who wanted to understand this and even more clearly what he had done wrong, broke out in cold sweat. He knew that it would be difficult for anyone to forgive a counselor who ignored the overall situation and went to deal with private matters at this time, let alone the King of England who was currently overseeing the country's governance. Ningxia Mansion has just been pacified, and now it can be said that all industries are waiting for prosperity and talents are in urgent need.
I was not with the King of England at this time, which was a very fatal mistake. Moreover, Fan Jian now vaguely felt that the King of England did not want him to be too involved with the Fan family. Although he did not ask himself to stop interacting with the Fan family, he obviously hoped that he would not get involved in the Fan family's affairs. From now on, to the Fan family, he is just a son, nothing more.
