Today is a rare refreshing day during the plum season in Jiangnan.
The sea breeze chasing the vast blue waves to the west blew away the heat.
Qi Jin, the deputy commander guarding Jiangnan, sat under the plum tree and drank three glasses of wine. Fang slowly stood up, walked to the grave of his adopted son Wu Bond, and patted the tombstone: "My child, you and Lao Wu are waiting for me in the sky. .”
The old general turned around and saw Zheng Haizhu's gaze filled with sadness and guilt. When the word "Mrs. Zheng" came to his lips, he changed it to the previous title.
"Girl, when Bond spotted you and threw away his book bag to follow you, I told his grandfather when he was offering incense that the child would choose his own path, and no storms could stop it. Those of us who came from the military know best. , live a good life, it will be lost if you say no. You don’t have to worry about me blaming you. "
Zheng Haizhu was grateful for the blessing and discussed: "Master, do you want to find a cute baby from the Wu family and adopt him to Bond and Amei's lineage? Live in Chongming and I will take care of him."
Qi Jin waved his hand: "If you advise Bond to stay with the old Wu family, I have been nagging this brat a lot when he was alive. He always said that he only wanted to be with Amei's child. Now he can no longer contradict him. I'm sorry, I can't go against his will. Forget it, don't think about anything that can't be passed on."
Zheng Haizhu said "Okay" and led Qi Jin to an unfinished house.
"Mr. Sir, this place faces the sea, is open and spacious, and overlooks the farm barracks. It makes you feel lonely. The younger generation will build a Martyrs' Shrine. The memorial tablets of several old heroes who died in Chongming in the anti-Japanese war will be erected in it. Bond So does."
The corners of Qi Jin's mouth twitched slightly: "If you are serious, it is not a waste of time for him to interact with you. Now that we have this place, there is no need to worry about the funeral arrangements after his death. There is no need for an heir."
The white-haired general squinted and saw a group of young men carrying wood for beams and pillars under the command of Carpenter Hu. Under the shade of a tree, beside a stone table, stood an old woman, instructing a young man who looked like a scholar to write.
The old woman was Grandma Tang. She had a cheerful temperament and walked over to greet Qi Jin in a bold manner.
Qi Jin also learned about Granny Tang's origins from Zheng Haizhu's mouth, and he held his hands with respect and said, "Grandma, when I was young, I heard from my adoptive father about the heroic feats of my ancestor Tang Gong in resisting the Japanese in Chongming."
Grandma Tang sighed: "Mr. sir, the Japanese pirates are no longer so violent now, but the Tatars in the north have become more rampant. No matter how much trouble the Japanese pirates made back then, they were just like mad dogs, taking money and food in their mouths and running away. But the Tatars actually know how to use spies to come. Stealing firearms and swindling guns and small cannons, this is not the behavior of ordinary robbers, they are coming for my country, the Ming Dynasty."
"Mother-in-law is insightful," Qi Jin solemnly agreed, "Nurhachi's ability to hook up with a Han guard general like Li Yongfang shows that this chieftain has great ambitions and many strategies. Although the battle of Fushun was a complete victory, I did not dare to be petty. Looking down at Beilu, so does Mrs. Zheng."
Zheng Haizhu nodded and called the Confucian scholar standing behind Tang Po.
Qi Jin looked at this young man. He was thin and fair, somewhat similar to Lu Xiangsheng, but the Hu brocade robe he wore was worth a lot at first glance. He estimated that this man was probably a son of a wealthy gentry like Master Gu.
While Qi Jin was still crying, the young man actually picked up his robe and knelt down without hesitation regardless of the wet mud.
"Junior Shen Tingyang, pay homage to Mr. Qi."
"Hey, you, a young man, don't have to pay such a big courtesy."
Qi Jin quickly raised his hand to ask the other party to get up.
Although the deputy commander-in-chief was already a high-ranking military officer, Qi Jin still felt a little awkward accepting the kneeling of a scholar like a scholar.
Shen Tingyang said calmly and generously: "Master, our Wusongsha Boat Gang can safely sail down the lower river on weekdays. It's all thanks to the master's ability to manage the army. Not to mention the younger generation, even my father should kowtow when he meets the master." Thank you."
"Sand Boat Gang?" Qi Jin thought for a while, "I heard from my subordinates that they do water transportation from river to river?"
Shen Tingyang replied humbly: "Exactly."
Zheng Haizhu and Qi Jin explained: "Mr. sir, I also came to Chongming and learned that the Shachuan Gang is the livelihood of the local Shen family. It is rare for a young master in Tingyang, who is definitely not one of those playboys, to have passed the examination and become a scholar. The Shen family There is also fertile land in the South Island, close to our Zhengjiazhuang. One of Tingyang’s distant relatives’ daughter married one of our Liao people, and Tingyang came over for a wedding, and actually fell in love with our Zhengjiazhuang and wanted to be my guest.”
Qi Jinhe was experienced in the world, and after listening to a few words, he estimated that according to Zheng Haizhu's habit of wining over and joining hands with local snakes, Zheng Haizhu would go to the young master of the Shen family in Chongming, even if he didn't take the initiative to surrender. Find him.
Qi Jin then glanced at the words "Zhong martyrs' temple" written in different styles on the stone table, but each had its own charm. With a tone of fun, he joked: "Young Master Shen, Mrs. Zheng's ability is far more than just managing your Chongming." This territory. If you want to be a guerrilla in her praise painting, you can't just rely on good handwriting."
The Shen family is both business and Confucian, and Shen Tingyang's knowledge and character are far above those of ordinary Confucian students.
In addition, he truly respected Tang Yicen, Qi Jiajun and other bloody men from the bottom of his heart, so he sincerely listened to the instructions to the best of his ability, nodding constantly, showing full respect for Qi Jin.
Zheng Haizhu observed from the sidelines and saw that the atmosphere of Qi Jin and Shen Tingyang's first meeting was good, so he changed the topic to the serious business they were about to do.
"Master, Tingyang did something this time, which really helped me a lot. Master, please move to the village at the foot of the mountain. Let's talk while walking."
Tang Po also said kindly to Shen Tingyang: "Master Shen, go ahead. The few inscriptions on the ancestral hall's plaque are enough."
…
At nearly noon the next day, in front of the Qianhusuo Gongshe near Yaopi Port on the North Island of Chongming.
Yue Zhixian and Yangxian Cheng stepped down from the sedan chair respectively.
Qi Jin and Zheng Haizhu were already waiting in the scorching sun with their entourage. Magistrate Yue quickly stepped forward while wiping his sweat, and said in a coquettish voice: "The seawater flooded a section of the way. I am late, ah ah ah this Really."
Yangxian Cheng also cooperated with his superiors and blamed Zheng Haizhu: "Why didn't Madam lead General Qi in first?"
Zheng Haizhu smiled at him and looked at Yue Zhixian: "It's not my barracks and guardhouse. How can I dare to enter before the county magistrate arrives?"
In the past few months, Yue Zhixian would have already cursed "Tai Na Niang" countless times in the local dialect, but today, no matter how disobedient the tigress named Zheng is, he won't mind.
Not only did he not mind it, he actually wanted to thank Tigress again.
At noon more than a month ago, when Huang Zunsu from the Donglin faction in Songjiang Prefecture came to the Chongming County Yamen with his official business, he rolled his eyes at Yue Zhixian, who was in love with him.
Although Songjiang is a prefecture and Chongming is a county, Chongming and Songjiang have no affiliation. You, a sixth-grade general magistrate in Songjiang, have no right to control whether Chongming is causing Japanese pirates or spies.
When Zheng Haizhu made no secret of his anger and questioned whether his musket had been sold by Yao Qianhu to a few Shandong merchants who claimed to be surnamed Huang, there happened to be a report from Anjiyuan that the guard had been killed. After his death, several people locked up in the courtyard ran away. Yue Zhixian and Yangxian Cheng suddenly realized that something bad was going on.
The two old foxes, the first and the second, did not need to exchange words. They both denied knowing that Yao Qianhu had sold the muskets to the Jurchen spies, and they righteously invited Huang Zunsu to go to Beidao with them to check the number of muskets. They were both imperial officials. Bear witness to each other.
The always fearless Yao Qianhu, through the DPRK-China relations and the help of Yue Zhixian, snatched the first batch of arms from Zheng Haizhu. Wherever he could hold it back, he changed hands and asked the Tong family, who was pretending to be a merchant, to load it on the ship from a private port.
Faced with several civil servants who came to investigate and question the crime, Yao Qianhu naturally couldn't even bring out a fire door.
Yao Qianhu understood that the most important thing for Yue and Yang, who had not yet received their share of the arms, was to save their positions and lives at this time, and they would never wear the same pair of pants with him again.
Songjiang and Chongming were sent to the Suzhou Military Preparation Road. Yao Qianhu, a trapped beast, was still fighting. He was determined to grab the gun and was smuggled out and sold by a few military households who liked to gamble, and fell into the river. He never knew Shandong. Merchant.
Not long after, the Shachuan Cao Gang of the Shen family in Chongming jumped out and pointed out that their sandboat collided with a sea-going ship from Liaodong near Taicang. A guard ship flying the Yao flag came from nearby and forcibly suppressed it. The Shen family and Yao Qianhu's subordinates claimed that the owner of the Liao ship was "Boss Huang" and that the ship was equipped with huanghuali furniture.
At the same time, the military households in the guard station who had been oppressed by Yao Qianhu for a long time also complained that Yao Qianhu had obtained a lot of ginseng and mink skins this year.
Nowadays, the memorial to impeach Yao Zongwen in Beijing is like a snowflake. Because Queen Wang has passed away in April, the emperor is seeing the impending impeachment. Concubine Zheng forces the emperor to make herself the queen. The first assistant Fang Congzhe instructs his minion Yao Zongwen to take charge of this matter. Donglin Pai Ziran stared at Yao Zongwen to fight.
Suzhou Bing Bei Dao thought that the prince would be able to join Zhengtong in the near future and stand with the Donglin faction, which was much safer than standing with Fang Congzhe and Yao Zongwen. He then looked at Yao Qianhu, a member of the Yao family, and ordered him to either find out the second one. The two men surnamed Huang had Shandong from Liaodong Shipping Company to testify, or they would plead guilty.
Yao Qianhu's skills were so poor that he finally gave in after Xingye sent his legitimate son to flee.
While Zheng Haizhu was here, he did not choose to accuse Yue and Yang of taking advantage of Yao Qianhu.
In exchange, Chongming County reported that the military households in the Qianhu Station on the North Island would be assigned to Zhengjiaying on the South Island by Qi Jin, the deputy commander-in-chief of Zhenjiang who was stationed nearest, to take over the military households.
At this moment, everyone entered Qianhu's mansion.
Before I could sit down, the Shen family's iced sour plum soup was delivered. Shen Tingyang respectfully led a few fresh and smart servants to serve him, while the few old and weak servants from the Qianhu Office stood blankly in the courtyard.
Yue Zhixian and Yang Xiancheng looked at each other calmly, knowing in their hearts that although Zheng had disgraced Wu Bond this time, it was not an exaggeration to say that it was a blessing in disguise.
There is one more tigress on the mountaintop.
Qi Jin took a sip of the sour plum soup and said calmly: "In Yue Zhixian County, the court's rules have always been that military households are military households and camp soldiers are camp soldiers. I have been fighting for a lifetime, and even if I get a horse, I still have to abide by the court's rules. I think so, you are reporting to the governor of Yingtian with the tone of a county official, saying that since there are many guard posts in Susong generation and there are troops in Chongming, it is better to turn this guard post in Beidao into a private household and increase the productivity of the land. The income can also be used as taxes for Chongming. Among them, if they are young and strong, they can be recruited as soldiers by the Zheng Family Camp in Nandao as appropriate."
Yue Zhixian breathed a sigh of relief.
In the short term, this plan would not only cause him no loss, but would also expand the county's harvest. In the long run, will the people named Zheng become powerful and become those generals in Liaodong? Well, just a woman, not like that, not like that.
Yue Zhixian then smiled slightly, turned his fat face glistening with sweat to Zheng Haizhu, and said in a passionate voice: "Madam is loyal to the court. It is a blessing for the people of the island to have Madam's soldiers stationed in Chongming!"
