Before Ruan Yuan returned to Fuyuan, Li Changgeng had also heard about the assassination of the Ruan family members, and he also helped the soldiers who returned to Fuyuan first to check the bodies of the first eight assassins. Seeing Ruan Yuan return to the courtyard,

Li Changgeng also came forward with something and said to Ruan Yuan: "Zhongcheng, these assassins are really powerful. Apart from weapons and fire knives and flints, they didn't bring anything else with them today. Only two of them found this. Please

Zhongcheng will take a look at it." After saying that, he brought the object in his hand to Ruan Yuan.

When Ruan Yuan looked at the object, he saw two round silver coins in Li Changgeng's hand. He also took one and looked at it repeatedly. On one side of the silver coin was a portrait. The person in the portrait was wearing a round-necked shirt, which seemed to be European style.

He has a high nose and deep eyes, and a fat figure. Under the portrait, there is also the word "1797" written in Arabic. There are two rows of letters on the left and right sides of Arabic, but Ruan Yuan does not recognize it. On the other side of the silver coin, there is a crown engraved on the upper part, with a

There are two castles and two lions in the shield. There is a pillar on the left and right sides of the shield, with ribbons hanging on it. The left and right sides of the shield also have Western letters.

"Is this...foreign silver?" Ruan Yuan asked Li Changgeng.

"Yes." Li Changgeng took a look and replied: "It is said that this foreign silver is imported from the Western country of Luzon. Guangzhou has the most. I have seen a lot in Fujian. But this foreign silver is not available in China.

There are quite a few, I'm afraid..." The Great Luzon Kingdom mentioned by Li Changgeng was the name given to Spain in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. The portrait on the silver coin was the Spanish King Carlos IV at that time. At this time, Spain was suffering from

Suffering from Napoleon's invasion, Carlos IV's talents were mediocre and he had to rely on Napoleon. Not long ago, the Spanish painter Goya had painted a painting that satirized the king's family for their incompetence.

"No, that's enough!" Unexpectedly, Ruan Yuan heard this explanation and immediately said to Li Changgeng: "Li Zhentai, you go back to Dinghai now, take thirty large ships, and go out to sea to pursue the pirates!

They were able to attack us with guns twice in a row, and they also carried foreign currency with them. If you think they are not pirates, who else could they be?"

"Zhongcheng, isn't this a little arbitrary?" Li Changgeng knew about the attack on the street, and thought that Ruan Yuanding was angry when he saw his family being attacked, so he made this drastic decision, and hurriedly comforted him: "Zhongcheng,

Madam Ling was attacked today, which is indeed infuriating, but you and I are both in charge of the military and government, so at this critical moment, why should we be more calm?"

"Brother Xiyan, I'm very calm!" Although Ruan Yuan said this, he usually spoke calmly, and now he spoke obviously much faster. "I asked you to pursue me now for three reasons. First, Hangzhou

I have already wiped out the bandits nearby. Even if there are still evildoers, it is absolutely impossible to dispatch ten killers at once. Even Chen Asan did not have this strength back then! Add this foreign money, do you think there is a second kind?

Is it possible? Secondly, the thieves took action this time to take advantage of my unpreparedness. Naturally, they will not abandon their accomplices. Even if they expect that no one will survive, there will always be some assassin comrades at sea to support them. You should attack as soon as possible.

, they might be caught by you before they can go south! Third, it is the time of the fishing market, which is when pirates are ready to attack. If you attack at this time, even if you do not encounter pirates, you can always protect those fishermen.

Fishing safety. In short, this attack is beneficial and harmless. If it is too late, the thieves may also get the news about Hangzhou. By then, they will run away first and it will be too late!"

The so-called "fishing market" is a name for the peak fishing season along the coast of eastern Zhejiang. Summer has already begun, and it is the best time for fishermen to catch big fish when large numbers of fish move north. The fishing scene at sea is like a market.

, hence the name among the people. In the past few years, some pirates often occupied fishing grounds and collected fishing money from fishermen, so Ruan Yuan also attached great importance to protecting the fishing market. But Li Changgeng listened, but still had some doubts, and asked: "But

Zhongcheng, if I go back and send troops now, what will happen to these new cannons in Hangzhou? Soldiers are very fast, but cannons can't be transported there so quickly?"

"There is no need to worry about this." Ruan Yuandao said: "Even if the thieves thought that these assassins would not come back, they would never think that we would be able to attack at this time. Therefore, their people should not be fully prepared this time! As for the artillery, right now

Aren't all the new cannons made by the two smelting bureaus in Dinghai, Wenzhou, temporarily placed with you? Take them all, plus the few heavy cannons seized last year, which is enough! Remember, soldiers need to be quick. If it is too late, the thieves will be killed.

Naturally, I withdrew it!" Seeing that Ruan Yuan's thinking was rigorous and indeed justified, Li Changgeng gradually became convinced of Ruan Yuan's words, and he bowed goodbye to Ruan Yuan and immediately returned to Dinghai Town.

"Teacher!" At this time, Xu Zongyan and Kong Luhua had also settled down with Xie Xue. Seeing that Ruan Yuan had finished instructing Li Changgeng, they stepped forward. Ruan Yuan was also worried about Xie Xue's safety and hurriedly asked them: "

Ji Qing, madam, how is things going at Yuezhuang?"

"The little master's wife should be alive, she just fainted. The student has already found a doctor and is treating her, but teacher, where did these thieves come from, and they suddenly assassinated two master's wives in broad daylight?" Xu

Zong Yan said.

"Qing Ji, this is also my fault." Ruan Yuan sighed: "I usually think about it. Firstly, I have wiped out all the bandits on land. Secondly, when I come to our Fuyuan home, if we follow the "Hui Hui" every time we go out,

According to the system of "Code", the ostentation must not be too small. At that time, the people in the city will only think that we are extravagant, and they will definitely feel unhappy. Therefore, my wife and I usually travel with as few ceremonial guards as possible, but we did not want to be attacked by these pirates today.

I took advantage of the loophole. It seems that in the future, I will have to follow the court's regulations when traveling."

But seeing Xu Zongyan unexpectedly return to Hangzhou, Ruan Yuan couldn't help but think of something and asked: "Qing Ji, by the way, there is something I haven't figured out yet. I heard that you were appointed as the head of the Ministry of War in the capital last year.

When Master Zhu En wrote the letter, he also mentioned that you are a humble person and an excellent scholar. How come you have returned to Hangzhou in just one year?"

"Well... I am indeed a little ashamed." Xu Zongyan couldn't help but smile bitterly. After hearing him talk about his appointment as an official, Ruan Yuan just knew what happened to him when he entered the capital. It turned out that Xu Zongyan did have acceptable grades due to the disbandment of the Hanlin Academy, so he was transferred to the Imperial Academy.

He became the head of the Ministry of War, but when he arrived at the Ministry of War, Xu Zongyan found that the work of the Six Ministries was completely different from what he had imagined. Xu Zongyan was indifferent by nature and loved reading. He usually discussed the words and deeds of sages and the system of the previous dynasty in books, but when he arrived,

After the Ministry of War, most of the other doctors, Yuanwailang, and principals in the Ministry of War did not know much about these scriptures and could not speak at all. These people saw that he was the least qualified, so they handed over many official documents to him. Moreover, because of his low official position

, could not speak at all about the various resolutions of the Ministry of War, and could only help other officers by running errands, proofreading document formats, and sometimes even copying a large amount of documents. At this time, the battle of the White Lotus Sect was in a stalemate, and there were a lot of official documents coming and going on the front line, but

Xu Zongyan had no interest in how the war was going, and had no choice but to spend his time in many formal documents of little significance. As time went by, his previous desire to serve the country gradually dimmed. (Note: Qing Dynasty

The six ministries of the system are divided into Tang Guan and Si Guan. The ministers and ministers of each ministry are collectively referred to as Tang Guan. The ministers, Yuan Wai Lang and the principals are collectively referred to as Si Guan.)

Just two months after he was appointed chief, he suddenly received a letter from home saying that his mother was ill and had been unable to recover. Xu Zongyan had gradually lost his enthusiasm for officialdom. Now he saw an opportunity to return home, but where could he go?

Are you willing to continue to delay in the capital? You immediately submitted a letter to resign from the position of chief executive and returned south to Hangzhou. In fact, Xu's mother's illness had been cured by this time, but Xu Zongyan was tired of the routine-oriented life of chief executive and did not want to return to Beijing to resume his duties.

Then he went to the home of "Xu Ji" to make a living. On this day, Kong Luhua's sedan chair happened to be passing by, and he was suddenly attacked by an assassin. "Xu Ji" had many servants to guard against thieves, which came in handy.

Ruan Yuan listened, but could not say anything for a moment. He also knew that the only people who could make decisions on the affairs of the six ministries were the officials of each ministry, and the division officers of each ministry could only do things, but they had no power to make decisions. Because of this,

Most of the officers who enter the Sixth Department can only win the favor of the court officials by working hard, or they may join the military aircraft department as Zhang Jing, and they may also be appreciated by the emperor, but other than that, there are few other ways for officers to be promoted. This includes Sun Xingyan.

As the second best person in the rankings, he devoted all his efforts to prison matters and was promoted steadily. He has been an official in the Hanlin Academy and was promoted to Shaozhanshi in his second year. This was one of the few exceptions among Han officials in the Qing Dynasty.

How can we accuse Xu Zongyan?

However, Xu Zongyan had already heard Kong Luhua talk about Jiao Xun's incident. At this time, he couldn't help but persuade Ruan Yuan: "Teacher, Mr. Litang is preparing to take the exam, and the students have heard about it. It is only when the students become officials that they realize that this official life has nothing to do with it."

Studying and studying in daily life is completely different. No matter how insightful your studies are and how advanced your knowledge is, it may be completely useless when you enter the officialdom. I heard that Mr. Satang’s temperament is similar to that of the students. The students still hope that Mr. Satang will think twice.”

"I can tell Litang what you said, but I have said a lot in this way. In short, if I don't try to apply for the exam myself, I don't think Litang will give up this time, so it's better to go first

Let him go." Ruan Yuandao. At this time, a man dressed as a doctor, accompanied by Liu Wenru, rushed towards Ruan Yuan. It turned out that Liu Wenru had also heard the news of the assassination of Kong Luhua and his party at the nursery, and hurriedly replied
Chapter completed!