Chapter 301 Ship
Qi Zixiu's demotion caused quite a stir in the officialdom of Jiangnan.
Along the Grand Canal, all the docks where the Jia family might stay, and all the prefectures, counties and towns, were on alert.
The officers and soldiers of the yamen and the garrison have been extremely busy these days.
In fact, others don’t know about the Japanese hiding in the country, but they know something about it.
In the past, out of respect for the people behind them, and because the Japanese didn't really do anything, everyone turned a blind eye and just gave them some silver as tribute, but now...
In order to prevent accidents and to prevent themselves from following in Qi Zixiu's footsteps, all parties, from top to bottom, did a lot of things.
"master!"
At the Yangzhou Salt Inspectorate, the housekeeper Lin Shan looked at Lin Ruhai who was leaving the office with a happy face and said, "According to the time, my aunt will probably pass by Yangzhou tonight."
"Have you sent anyone?"
"I have sent it."
In order to avoid missing it, he has sent it for two days in a row, and today is the third day.
The old butler is now extremely satisfied with their master's Yue family.
Especially last year, when the wife, the daughter and the young master came to Beijing, it was said that it was this aunt who felt something was wrong, so she sent people to pick them up one after another.
"Master, tomorrow is the eighth day of April, my cousin's first birthday. What do you think..."
"Prepare all the things for the first birthday."
My son and daughter are not around, so it’s rare for a daughter to come and say that she watched a little girl grow up.
When Lin Ruhai saw what his daughter said in the letter, he laughed so hard that his stomach hurt.
How old is his little girl herself?
She actually said that she watched him grow up.
Lin Ruhai often exchanged letters with the capital, and he had long discovered that after his two children came to Yue's family, not only did their health improve, but their personalities also became more lively.
Although a lot of things happened to the Yue family in the past six months, everything was developing in a positive direction.
After Lin Ruhai himself experienced a poisoning attack here, he became even more concerned about his wife and children who were far away in the capital.
He was also afraid that Jia Min would be like him and only report good news and not bad news, so he specially hired someone to watch over her.
"Prepare a gift for the lady, the young lady, and Chang'an."
As he spoke, Lin Ruhai took off the jade pendant that he always wore around his waist and said, "Put this on later."
As he walked back, he instructed, "Be sure to prepare well."
"Hey, I've got it all down."
Lin Shan waved his hand to the people below, indicating that they should go and do it, and then he saw a fast horse coming over here on the street, "Master, my aunt and her husband's boat has arrived."
What? Lin Ruhai was surprised, "Hurry, go to the dock."
At this time, the prefect of Yangzhou also received news that the Jia family fleet had arrived.
He couldn't help but sigh.
Elsewhere, the Jia family might leave after one night, but he has the Lin family here!
Seeing that the Lin family had been waiting at the dock for a few days, he suspected that they would stay in Yangzhou for a few days.
Oh, this is really hard to do.
Qi Zixiu was demoted and was unwilling to accept it. As a result, his mother made a fuss and he was scolded badly.
Huo Boling, the prefect of Yangzhou, felt that if word of Madam Shen's idleness got to the capital, he wouldn't even be able to stay as a small county official in Luzhou for long.
"Tell everyone below to keep a close eye on me. If anyone dares to slack off at this moment, I will suffer a little misfortune, and they will lose half their lives."
"Don't worry, sir. Everyone is keeping their heads down."
The master consoled him, "Haven't you noticed that there are more thieves in the prison recently?"
Last year, Yangzhou was messed up by the Li family and the Japanese pirates, and the officialdom underwent a major reshuffle.
This major reshuffle involved all aspects, and even several yamen runners were exiled.
Who isn't cautious nowadays?
Who dares not to be cautious?
Their master has been living peacefully and steadily in the past few months since he took office.
In fact, according to the lawyer, as long as the emperor and the emeritus emperor are stable and those princes do not cause trouble, it is easy to be a local official.
"The Jia family still has hundreds of elite soldiers protecting them. No matter how unwilling those Japanese are, they have no choice but to let them go."
The master said, "I think that since they can't attack people, the most likely thing they will do is attack the boat or the carriage."
this? Huo Boling thought it made sense, "Let someone keep an eye on their boat."
In any case, nothing can happen in his jurisdiction.
Yangzhou is not far from Jinling.
The next step is to take the Grand Canal to the Yangtze River, or just take a car, both are possible.
Huo Boling's heart was beating a little, "Someone, prepare the car!"
"Master, do you want to..."
"Let's go!"
Huo Boling was transferred to Yangzhou last year and was taken care of by Lin Ruhai several times. "Let alone other things, I should go to Jia Jing's place in Ningguo Mansion to burn incense."
Yangzhou is a place that all forces want to fight for.
Something happened in Yangzhou last year, and when Huo Boling heard that he was going to be transferred here, he thought his life was over.
Not to mention the Zhen family that occupied the south of the Yangtze River, even if they were the various royal palaces in the capital, he would be sick for several days if they stomped their feet.
He was trembling with fear, thinking that he would be torn to pieces by them one day, but he never expected that after being forced into a dead end, Jia Jing would choose to die in the same way as the former prince.
His death ended all the disputes among the two dragons in the court, and the court became stable all of a sudden. Huo Boling no longer had to worry about being eaten alive by some people one day.
Huo Boling really despised the emperor who had abdicated but still clung to power.
The old man only cares about himself and doesn't think about his children and grandchildren, or about Da Zhao.
He fell down, and he was so happy that he burned a few more incense sticks for the Buddha.
Huo Boling went, Lin Ruhai went, and the gentry in Yangzhou had also sensed something in the tense atmosphere of the past few days, and of course they followed closely.
After Jia Jing's death, he was honored and given a second-rank official title.
In fact, although the Jia family kept a low profile along the way, there were also people who were as thoughtful as Jin Muchuan. However, nowhere was like Yangzhou, which alarmed everyone and even the top ten salt merchants sent gifts.
Shen Ning had a headache.
Even though the gifts given by the salt merchants were well-behaved, the Jia family had a high status, so they accepted more than 8,000 taels of silver as the deposit alone.
And more people came one after another.
After all, Yangzhou has more than just the top ten salt merchants.
"How about the Yangzhou prefect?"
"I heard from my uncle that he is a very stable official."
After seeing everyone off, it was too late and Lin Ruhai could not go back into the back house. He just sent the nanny beside him to pay his respects, chat with her for a few minutes, and then left.
But Jia Zhen knew that his mother would definitely question him about the money, so he said, "When he offered sacrifices to his father, he was very respectful."
Whether it is respectful or perfunctory, Jia Zhen, as a son, can tell it carefully.
"If you feel that the donations are inappropriate, we can ask my uncle to return them to us when we leave tomorrow."
return?
Isn't that a bargain for them?
The salt merchant, who is rich in silver, will not care about these few thousand silver coins.
Shen Ning thought again and again, "What else? The headmaster of Jinshan College is here to pay tribute to your father today?"
"yes!"
Jia Zhen thought for a moment, "The headmaster standing behind the group seemed to have also presented twenty taels of money as a gift."
"Donate all the money you received today to Jinshan College."
ah? Jia Zhen was a little stunned.
There were too many people today, so he didn't have a chance to talk to the headmaster.
"According to the standards of our school, every year we give seven students with excellent character and academic performance a bonus of 20 taels. In addition, their school selects three students from poor families but are determined to make progress and each of them will receive a subsidy of 50 taels."
Shen Ning said: “Zhen’er, don’t forget that the Jia family has a sacrificial field here.”
Lin Ruhai will eventually be transferred to Beijing.
"Instead of returning the silver to the salt merchants, it is better to donate it and do practical things."
"...Yes! My son understands."
Jia Zhen admired his mother very much.
Shen Ning waved her hand, “Tomorrow is your sister’s birthday, Yangzhou is like this, you must not make it public.”
Originally, during the mourning period, on my daughter’s birthday, the whole family would just eat longevity noodles together.
But according to Lin Ruhai, we still have to catch Zhou.
He had prepared everything, if he didn't catch a New Year's Eve... Shen Ning glanced at her daughter who was already asleep, and felt that if she didn't catch a New Year's Eve, she would be sorry for her.
"yes!"
So, early in the morning on April 8th, Lin Ruhai came over and ate a bowl of longevity noodles with him.
After hugging the little birthday boy, she pulled out several of his beard strands.
Oops, he had forgotten that children's hands are quick.
In his grief, Lin Ruhai thought of his two children, and felt both sad and relieved.
The long table was filled with all kinds of things.
From toys to jewelry, rouge, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, even the map of his study was asked by Shen Ning for her daughter to choose.
Shen Ning herself might not be able to travel around the world, but she felt that her daughter could.
As long as Da Zhao is strong and as long as she has enough military force around her, she may be able to travel the world even though she is a girl.
The little girl giggled and crawled on the table. She first picked up a small Tianhuang seal carved into a gourd, then a pen and a very beautiful jade comb, and shouted to her mother, "Here!"
"Give me?"
Shen Ning was pleasantly surprised. The nanny's prayers in her ears seemed far away. She was overwhelmed by her own daughter, and she was the only one in her heart and eyes.
…
Capital city, Ningguo Mansion.
Although the little birthday boy was not at home, Jia's grandmother, as an old lady with both good fortune and longevity, still came over early in the morning and accompanied Youshi and others to eat a bowl of longevity noodles.
"Grandma, someone is coming from the palace."
The maid came in with a smile, "The Queen is blessing our little county lady."
Then the group went to the main hall and kowtowed and paid their respects.
Although Shen Ning was not at home these days, the queen still had people send some things here from time to time.
Although most of them were snacks and food from the imperial kitchen, they were enough to let others know that Ningguo Mansion was under her protection.
Even Qin Keqing was called into the palace twice by the Queen.
Others don't know her identity, but Lady Jia and Mrs. You know it.
Both of them were happy about it.
"Master, you are such a fool. We agreed that a letter from home would arrive today."
Yu was also very sorry that she couldn't celebrate her birthday with her sister-in-law.
After sending the people from the palace away, she asked the maids to register the jewelry and other items awarded by the queen. Then she complained, "Second brother's sister, when Second Brother Lian returns home, you have to help me ask."
"must!"
How dare Wang Xifeng refuse? She secretly gave a thumbs up to Yingchun and other sisters-in-law who were in charge of Ningguo Mansion.
She is in charge of the West Palace, but as for the East Palace, Youshi still knows nothing about it. It can only be the credit of her sisters-in-law.
"That's right. He's been quite busy these days."
Wang Xifeng smiled, "Believe it... Even if we take the military route, there is no guarantee that we will arrive on the day we say we will."
"I know, but I didn't say I had to watch it today."
You smiled.
Now there are three sisters-in-law, and only Wang Xifeng has no children.
Although the old lady of the West Mansion and Aunt Xing were both nice to Feng, the Wang family was in such a good state and this girl had no support from her natal family just like her, so Youshi felt that she should have a child earlier.
But as a sister-in-law, it was difficult for her to say this.
Jia Lian has been too busy lately.
"Look at the old lady, she seems to be afraid that I will blame my second brother Lian."
“Hahaha~”
Grandmother Jia smiled, "You have every right to blame her. Today is Yue'er's birthday, and her brother didn't come, but the gift should have arrived."
"Old lady~"
Wang Xifeng looked shocked, "Didn't I give you a pair of gold necklaces?"
"You are yours, and Second Brother Lian belongs to Second Brother Lian."
Youshi smiled and held out her hand, "Hurry up, go home and make up for it."
"No, no, we are husband and wife."
Wang Xifeng hit her hand and said, "My dear sister-in-law, Yue'er is your sister, and I am your sister too. If you add Lian Er, we are your younger brother and sister. The two of us together are at least a little more important than Yue'er, right?"
"...It seems to be the key point." Yu Shi looked at her with a smile, "No, it's much more important."
The Jia family was scattered in two places, and they were celebrating Jia Yue's first birthday with smiles, but they didn't know that two ships were heading to the port of Tianjin.
Seeing the flag hanging above, the officers and soldiers of Tianjin Garrison imposed martial law on the spot.
At the same time, two fast horses, one went to the city and the other went to the capital.
The delegations of both countries saw it through a telescope.
When Ichiro Ishii put down the telescope, his brows were deeply furrowed.
"My Lord, Kaneda-kun's actions were probably successful."
The attendant beside him said, "Da Zhao seems to be very wary of us."
“…”
Ichiro Ishii did not speak.
The Jia family has many connections in the military.
Shen from Ningguo Mansion is also quite smart.
If all the family members who were carrying the coffin back to their hometown were dead...they would probably have to endure more humiliation on this trip.
However, he made it clear at the time that they could not kill them all, and at least one child had to be left behind to be rescued by them.
Only in this way can the door of Dazhao be opened better.
Especially the gate of the Jia family in the army.
Even if the door is only opened a crack for them, it is worth it to get their newly made muskets.
“It could also be a failure!”
The attendant next to him took the telescope and observed for a while longer. "If we fail, Dazhao will be wary of us."
Ichiro Ishii glanced at him with a hint of displeasure.
He still had some confidence in Kaneda Akiji and others.
In the event of a sneak attack, no matter how good the Jia family's guards are, some people will die.
"You don't believe Kaneda-kun?"
"It has nothing to do with whether I believe it or not. The Jia family has been assassinated several times, so it is impossible that they are not prepared."
"you……"
“That’s enough!”
Ishii Ichiro stopped the two from arguing, "Whether it's true or not, we'll know when we get to the shore."
He took a long breath, "There's no point in arguing here."
Ishii Ichiro rubbed his face and straightened his clothes, "Everyone, be serious, we will reach the shore soon."
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