The state daily published the story of Russell, Baoling, Burlon and Adams going to Beijing. They must have followed the entire journey, which took several months to complete. After all, the large group of people had to avoid the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army and could not go any faster. Now, just The matter of escorting Russell, Bao Ling and others has caused huge waves. More and more scholars submitted articles to Guangzhou Daily to express their opinions. Wei Yuan selected the articles and published them, making Jiuzhou Daily popular. Prosperous.
Russell and others headed north, and the British and French fleets also left.
Li Zhengang arrived in Guangzhou and was busy dealing with Qi Ling and the Tiandihui. Thinking that La Er and others were in his hands, Li Zhen was not worried about the British and French fleet leaving. Xianfeng took the initiative and ordered people to take La Er, Bao Ling and others away. Li Zhen was caught off guard and was unable to conquer the British and French fleet in time.
In this way, the opportunity to enhance the navy's strength was missed.
Li Zhen was disappointed, but he began to vigorously govern Guangzhou. Without the Society of Heaven and Earth, and without the constraints of seniority, Li Zhen developed Guangzhou according to his own ideas.
Compared with Li Zhen who was proud in spring, his old age was miserable.
After the Tiandihui incident, Qi Ling voluntarily resigned as governor of Guangdong. Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, appointed Li Zhen to temporarily act as governor of Guangdong and take charge of the overall situation of Guangdong. Qi Ling lost his official position and lost his only nephew. I couldn't afford to fall ill at home, my health was getting worse and worse, and I was eating less and less every day.
On August 29, the senior citizen was depressed and unhappy and died of illness in Guangzhou.
When the senior citizen died of illness, the mourning hall was set up in the governor's Yamen.
Li Zhen was only the temporary acting governor appointed by Ye Mingchen. He did not receive orders from Xianfeng and still lived in the Governor's Mansion. Qiling was the governor of Guangdong during his lifetime, so Ye Mingchen allowed the family of Qiling to set up the mourning hall in the governor's office.
Early in the morning, people came one after another to the governor's Yamen to pay homage.
The crackling sound of firecrackers sounded one after another.
The sound of crying lingered over the governor's Yamen.
Li Zhen was sitting alone in the study. After a while, he would hear the sound of firecrackers. He was agitated and had no intention of dealing with political affairs. Ye Chengzhong hurried in and reported: "Sir, Governor Ye is waiting in the hall. Please ask. Let’s go there.”
Li Zhen left the study and looked at Ye Mingchen with some surprise after entering the hall.
At this moment, Ye Mingchen was neatly dressed, wearing an official hat, court clothes, and court beads, as if he was formally attending court.
Li Zhen bowed his hands and said: "The Governor is here in person, what can I do?"
Ye Mingchen sat down in the hall and said solemnly: "Although Qiling was Admiral Li's political enemy during his lifetime, and the two sides also fought with each other, after he died, the fighting is a thing of the past. After all, we are colleagues, and Admiral Li will follow me." Let’s go to the Governor’s Yamen to pay homage.”
Li Zhen thought for a moment, but didn't want to go.
I think back then, Wan Fu was taken hostage by the people of the Tiandihui. Li Zhen failed to rescue him, which led to Wan Fu being killed. The senior citizen lost his official position because of Li Zhen. He became depressed after being bedridden and even died of illness. The two sides had long forged hatred. , if Li Zhen joins in on his own again, he is obviously asking for trouble.
Ye Mingchen insisted: "Let's go, we should go no matter what."
Li Zhen thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, Lord Governor, I will go and change my clothes."
In fact, Li Zhen also knew in his heart that no matter how the elder's family viewed him, he still had to do what he had to do, and he had to have a posture. The elder was the governor of Guangdong during his lifetime, he was the admiral, and the two were colleagues, so Li Zhen had to do it. Go, it didn’t take long, Li Zhen changed into white clothes and came out, and went to the governor’s Yamen with Ye Mingchen. When Li Zhen and Ye Mingchen appeared at the gate of the governor’s Yamen, the faces of the people who greeted the guests changed drastically, and the eyes that looked at Li Zhen were revealing. Fierce light.
This man's name was Duande, and he was Qiling's son.
When the elder came to Guangzhou to take up his post, he brought only Wanfu and his family. His wife, concubines, and daughters all stayed in his hometown. His son Duande was also guarding the ancestral property in his hometown. The elder couldn't afford to fall ill in Guangzhou, so Duande rushed over in a hurry. The senior citizen died of illness within a few days.
"Li Zhen, you still have the nerve to come here, get out, we don't welcome you."
Duande did not speak, but the attendant spoke first.
Li Zhen dusted off his robe and said: "I am very sad that the senior citizen passed away due to illness. After he passed away, I naturally wanted to come and pay my respects." He had already arrived at the door, and it was impossible for Li Zhen to turn around and leave after being scolded. , he couldn't afford to lose this person.
The attendant sneered again: "The cat cries and the mouse pretends to be compassionate."
Li Zhen said with a serious look: "I came to pay homage to the senior citizen with sincerity and no falsehood. The senior citizen and I were indeed political enemies and fought with each other, but we were both aboveboard and upright, and did not use dirty tricks. Senior Li Zhen said with a serious expression. Ling is loyal to the emperor and is a capable minister. I also admire his abilities. Whether you believe it or not, I believe in myself. No matter what, I will offer a stick of incense to Mr. Qiling today."
"Let him in."
Duan De stared at Li Zhen, waved his hand, and the servants immediately moved out of the way.
Li Zhen and Ye Mingchen entered together. After burning incense, they left the governor's office together. Li Zhen returned to the governor's house. Before his buttocks were warm in the study, Wang Xiaoyang ran in like the wind. Wang Xiaoyang stumbled, his arms and legs My legs were shaking as I ran, and my eyes looked even more anxious.
When Li Zhen saw this, he wondered what had happened. Wang Xiaoyang, who was calm and unfazed, turned out to be like this.
"Hongyi, your sister was arrested."
After Wang Xiaoyang stood still, he immediately said loudly.
"boom,."
Li Zhen was confused. After recovering, he asked: "Brother-in-law, what is going on."
Wang Xiaoyang frowned, reached out and took out a letter from his arms, handed it to Li Zhen, and said anxiously: "I went to see your sister today and saw a letter like this in the room. The letter said Your sister was captured by Japanese ronin, and you need to come forward to solve the problem."
Li Zhen glanced at it quickly, his face became extremely solemn.
The person who captured Li Xiaotong was a Japanese rogue at sea.
The target of these rogues was actually Li Zhen. To capture Li Xiaotong, Li Zhen was asked to prepare 3,000 guns and 100,000 rounds of ammunition. Wang Xiaoyang was worried. Seeing that Li Zhen was silent, he said hurriedly: "Brother, they only need 3,000 bullets." Just give them the gun and 100,000 rounds of ammunition, and rescuing your sister is the most important thing."
Li Zhen shook his head slightly and said: "Brother-in-law, three thousand guns and one hundred thousand bullets are nothing to me now. What I'm thinking about is if I gave three thousand guns and one hundred thousand bullets, but it didn't save me." What should I do if I return to my sister?"
When Wang Xiaoyang heard this, he was immediately speechless.
His mind was filled with Li Xiaotong's safety, and he couldn't concentrate to analyze the matter.
Li Zhen looked at the content on the note and said: "The Japanese prodigal asked for the goods to be shipped to the port in Guangzhou before they would let my sister go. They also asked me to prepare two large ships to transport the goods. It was obviously premeditated and the matter was very troublesome. We need to discuss it carefully if we want to save my sister."
Wang Xiaoyang jumped to his feet in anxiety and said, "Brother, what can you do?"
At this time, Li Zhen was like a life-saving straw, and Wang Xiaoyang was holding on to it with all his strength.
ps: Second update; there are only two updates today. Please understand that Xiaodong has not had two updates since he started the book. But I don’t dare to be careless about the next plot. This chapter is a transition and I have been writing it for nearly three months. For an hour, please give me some time to sort out the plot and outline. There are many plots in my mind, but they are very messy and cannot be sorted out. When I started the book, I wanted to write about beating up the Russian strongman and repairing Japan. Please be more careful about the plot. Let me take a break. Well, that’s roughly it.