On March 16, at breakfast the next day, Shi Shigege sent a long secret message to Xiang Xiaoqiang, first reminding him of a crucial issue: the day after tomorrow, that is, March 18, is the 22nd day of the Ming Dynasty Empress Zhu Yourong.
birthday!
In the past, on the birthday of the Ming Dynasty monarch, the whole country would have a day off and hold some celebration activities. This was also the case in the first and second years of Zhu Yourong's accession to the throne. But in the third year of this year, a series of great changes occurred in Nanyang during this period.
The whole country's attention was attracted, so much so that only yesterday, after the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands signed a treaty, and the Ming Dynasty achieved a great victory in military and diplomacy, and the whole country was celebrating, everyone remembered that there would be something worthwhile in two days.
The thing to celebrate is His Majesty’s birthday.
When Xiang Xiaoqiang saw the fourteen-frame telegram, he suddenly realized that he should have something to say. In addition to sending a congratulatory telegram the day after tomorrow, he also had to prepare a birthday gift.
"Oh my god, this fourteenth, why didn't you remind me earlier!" Xiang Xiaoqiang put down his knife and fork, stood up and waved the telegraph newspaper, "It's so good now, the day after tomorrow is my birthday, and I can't get a gift in time to send it back today.
!I also want to get some stuff with Nanyang characteristics!"
Qiu Qiu, who was stuffing steak and fruit into his mouth, heard this and raised his head curiously:
"Fourteen? Who is it?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang reacted immediately, coughed lightly and said with a smile:
"Hi, it's Princess Liaoyang! I'm used to calling her Fourteen Gege before."
"Well," Qiu Qiu didn't hear any clues as Xiang Xiaoqiang feared, but she said happily, "Xiaoqiang, I thought of a way. Aren't those treasures from Batavia Island still at sea?
Including the voyage, we will arrive at Shanghai Port today, and it will be shipped to Nanjing tomorrow. It coincides with His Majesty's birthday the day after tomorrow. Anyway, it was originally intended to be presented to His Majesty, so you can just say that it was specially presented to celebrate His Majesty's birthday.
!”
Xiang Xiaoqiang's heart lit up and he said happily:
"That's right! Those are all good things! All the artworks on Batavia Island are there! Qiu Qiu, sometimes your mind is really good."
Qiu Qiu also smiled happily "haha", and it took him a long time to react:
"Ah? Sometimes?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang continued to read the telegram while eating breakfast, and suddenly laughed: "Haha, Princess Liaoyang also suggested to me to use these treasures as birthday gifts. Qiu Qiu, you and Princess Liaoyang thought of going together!"
Qiu Qiu was very proud to think that he and the resourceful Princess Liaoyang were together.
…
However, the main purpose of the fourteen-frame telegram was not to remind him of Zhu Yourong's birthday, but the news delivered by Zheng Yucong from the palace. Last night, a minister suggested to His Majesty that Xiang Xiaoqiang be appointed as the first governor of Pazia.
Xiang Xiaoqiang was shocked when he saw the news. His first thought was that someone wanted to drive him out of the power center of the Ming Dynasty and send him overseas to become a feudal official. He immediately thought of one person: Shen Rongxuan.
He knows that Shen Rongxuan has one advantage, that is, he will not let internal power struggles affect national interests. For example, this time the Nanyang issue is exactly the time when it is necessary to unanimously deal with the outside world. Although he used to regard himself as a threat, this time he also and
Stand by yourself and back yourself up at home.
But now that the Nanyang issue has been successfully ended, Shen Rongxuan has also begun to "deal with" himself.
The minister who gave advice to Zhu Yourong was definitely not Shen Rongxuan. He would not come forward personally.
Xiang Xiaoqiang's heart was beating "bang bang" and she continued to read the telegram. Fourteen Gege's guess was the same as his, that this was Shen Rongxuan's small move. She also thought that for such a big matter, His Majesty would definitely tell Shen Rongxuan After discussion, Shen Rongxuan will definitely support this suggestion. He is likely to say that Pazia has just been acquired, and the first governor is very important and must be suppressed and have a greater reputation in the local area. This is more suitable for Xiaoqiang However, as the Imperial Envoy, Xiang Xiaoqiang negotiated with the Dutch colonial authorities several times, worked for the interests of the Chinese, and served as the top officer of the Batavia Island Military Control Commission. There is no one more suitable than him...
These words were analyzed by Shi Shigege. Although she analyzed them, Xiang Xiaoqiang still broke out in cold sweats as he read them. Her analysis was very reasonable. If Shen Rongxuan wanted to get Xiang Xiaoqiang to Nanyang, he would definitely persuade her like this. Zhu Yourong.
Shi Shigege also continued to analyze: Your Majesty will definitely be reluctant to send Xiang Xiaoqiang to Nanyang as governor. She will definitely hope that Xiang Xiaoqiang will stay in Nanjing, continue to be the commander of the People's Guard, and continue to be her teacher... Shen Rongxuan will definitely advise Your Majesty: Pazia is the first new territory added to the empire in hundreds of years. The first governor is extremely important. We need a wise and brave general like Xiang Xiaoqiang... If your majesty is really reluctant to stay away from such love, then The term of the first governor can be shortened and he can be allowed to stay in Pazia for a year and a half. When the empire's rule in Pazia is initially on track, Xiang Xiaoqiang can be brought back... In this way, the possibility of His Majesty's consent will be reduced. will increase significantly.
Xiang Xiaoqiang's face burned hot when she saw Shi Shi Ge Ge clearly stating that His Majesty could not let go of her. It seemed that Zhu Yourong's affection for her had never been hidden from Shi Shi Ge Ge's eyes... When she was getting along with Zhu You Rong, she never once I've never been there before! You can actually tell?
But he couldn't care about this and continued to read. Fourteen grid analysis, no matter whether Shen Rongxuan and the ministers said that Xiang Xiaoqiang would only be allowed to go for a year and a half or that he would come back soon, one thing is certain, as long as he goes As governor, the People's Guard will change their surname immediately. And it is almost certain that Xiang Xiaoqiang will not be able to come back in a year and a half. After a year and a half, there will definitely be thousands of reasons why Xiang Xiaoqiang cannot escape and relinquish his post. , the term of office will be longer and longer. To say the least, even if Zai really comes back in a year and a half, the power pie of the Ming Central Committee will have been redistributed, and there will be no trace of Xiang Xiaoqiang.
Shi Shigege strongly suggested to Xiang Xiaoqiang that if he receives an inquiry from Zhu Yourong, he must try his best to reject the position of Governor of Pazia and return to China as soon as possible. She also mentioned ambiguously in the message that Zheng Yucong also hopes that he will come back...
Yes! Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly thought that becoming the Governor of Pazia would not only damage his career line, but also his love line! Not only would Fourteen Princesses have no chance to pursue him, but even Zheng Yucong, who had almost obtained it, would also be injured again. No chance with him!
Xiang Xiaoqiang sighed, handed the telegram to Qiu Qiu, then leaned on the back of the chair, covered his face with his hands, and sighed exaggeratedly. After sighing for a while, he found that Qiu Qiu ignored him and was just concentrating on reading the telegram. Feeling bored, I grabbed my knife and fork and continued to eat breakfast, but I was thinking in my mind: How to come up with a reasonable and invisible reason to justifiably dismiss the Governor of Pazia?
Xiang Xiaoqiang secretly sighed: Alas, the Governor of Pazia and the feudal official, no matter how many people break their heads, they can't grab this! I just pushed it out as hard as I could. In Nanjing, in name, it can be regarded as "under one person, ten thousand people" "Above people", when I saw Shen Rongxuan, I had to learn from others. When he was the governor of Nanyang and monopolized military and political power in the colonies, he was only "above ten thousand people", not even "below one person".
In fact, in the final analysis, I can only stay in this time and space for five years. My original ideal was to get a fortune, marry a lot of wives, and live comfortably for five years. There is no better condition than this right now. As long as you are willing, you can live as a local emperor in Pazia for five years. Not to mention marrying the twelve beauties of the Ming Dynasty. It is very realistic to marry the twelve dozen of the Ming Dynasty... and you can also eat hawksbill turtles and Australian lobsters every day. Golden conger eel, fresh papaya juice to drink anytime, anywhere...
Moreover, once you become the governor, the power in your hands will be absolutely stable, and no one around you will threaten you. It's not like in Nanjing, where you have to be wary of this and plot that all day long...
Alas, why am I so mean, leaving the comfortable local emperor alone and insisting on returning to Nanjing to live a life of fear? Is it so exciting? Also, why don't they want me to stay and be the governor? It's easy to understand that Zheng Yucong wants me to go back. She is already waiting to become Mrs. Xiang. Shi Shigege also hopes that I go back...Does she really like me? She likes me as much as I like her?
Xiang Xiaoqiang continued to think: If I don't go back, is it possible for her to take over my position and become the official commander from acting commander?... No, probably not. After all, she is a former Manchu princess, no matter how talented she is, she will not be If she is allowed to hold such an important position...then it is easy to understand that she wants me to go back. If I go back, at least she will have someone to support her. If I don't go, she will fall into the same pitiable situation as before.
After thinking through this section, Xiang Xiaoqiang felt disappointed. After all, Fourteen Princess was a practical person... But he immediately thought that if there were no such entanglements of interests, there would be no question of whether he could succeed to the position of commander, and there would be no backer. The question is, will she want to go back? She will definitely. Xiang Xiaoqiang instinctively thinks so.
Xiang Xiaoqiang asked Qiu Qiu boredly:
"Qiu Qiu, your husband doesn't want to stay in this inhospitable place and wants to return to his country. Can you help me think of any good ideas?"
Qiu Qiu was immersed in reading the telegram. Now she had finished reading it and understood what was going on. She raised her head, thought for a while, and said with a smile:
"Well... I think it would be good to stay in Nanyang and be the governor. I quite like it here."
"Silly girl!" Xiang Xiaoqiang was angry and amused, glaring and said, "Nanyang, what's the point? Do you think everywhere is like Batavia? That's not Batavia Island, that's Pa Zia! There are no decent cities in this place. It is all virgin forests and swamps. There are poisonous snakes, big spiders and mosquitoes everywhere. They will bite you and give you malaria every day... There is nothing there. There is no place to buy high-end fashion or beautiful jewelry in the store. Being a governor there is no different from being a chief! Just be mentally prepared. If you are willing to come with me and be the chief's wife, it's up to you."
Qiu Qiu was so amused by him that he giggled so much that he couldn't stand up straight. He stopped after a while and said with a smile:
"Oh, Xiaoqiang, you don't want to go if you don't want to go. What you say is so mysterious. I'm not a three-year-old child... Hey, malaria? By the way, if you don't want to go, just send a telegram to His Majesty, saying that you have malaria. If you don't leave Nanyang,
It’s okay if you’re going to die, right?”
Xiang Xiaoqiang almost lost his temper. Such a bad idea...
Eh? But when he thought about it carefully, this was not entirely a bad idea. As long as he pretended to be "unaccustomed to the local environment", staying in Nanyang would give him a headache or a brain fever. Zhu Yourong was so kind to him, and she just needed a reason to transfer her back to the country. Could she still
Will a doctor be sent to check whether he lied?
Xiang Xiaoqiang was overjoyed and laughed loudly. He stood up, hugged Qiu Qiu and kissed her fiercely. He touched the back of Qiu Qiu's head and said vaguely:
"It's great...my Qiu Qiu is getting smarter and smarter..."
Qiu Qiu was being kissed to pieces by him, but Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly let go of her, ran over and rang the bell, and had someone immediately call the People's Guard doctor assigned to him from the Governor's Mansion.
After a while, a major military doctor came in carrying a medical kit:
"Sir, why don't you..."
"Let me ask you," Xiang Xiaoqiang asked, "what will happen if I don't adapt to the climate?"
"?!"
…
After a while, Xiang Xiaoqiang beat around the bush, and finally the military doctor understood that if he wanted to pretend to be sick, he would have to suffer from a unique acclimatization problem here in Nanyang, and it would be better if he left Nanyang.
Soon, the military doctor listed several typical tropical diseases for him: malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, silent fever... These diseases all have something in common. They are basically infected by tropical mosquito bites, and the symptoms are general.
They all include fever and chills, vomiting and diarrhea, anemia, hepatosplenomegaly, and sore limbs and joints... Anyway, each one sounds more terrifying than the last.
Xiang Xiaoqiang scratched his head and asked:
"Is there any disease that is not easy to detect? I mean, for example, if there is only soreness in the limbs, stomachache, nausea, etc., it can't be seen at a glance or measured with a thermometer?"
"This..." the military doctor pondered, "there should be some, but they are not these typical symptoms. There are also many early symptoms that are similar to what you mentioned, adults. They are not easy to detect and need to be observed."
The military doctor taught him step by step for a while, and Xiang Xiaoqiang understood. Anyway, these "acclimate" diseases have similar clinical manifestations in their early stages, so you can just fool them around.
He rewarded the military doctor with dozens of gold coins and ordered:
"When you go out and people ask you what's wrong with the imperial envoy, you just say that I'm a little uncomfortable and maybe a little acclimatized. Do you understand?"
The military doctor has understood that he has to pretend to be acclimatized. Although he doesn't know why, he will definitely try his best to cooperate.
"Hey, hey," the military doctor said with a proud smile to Xiaoqiang after he left, "Those old men in Nanjing wanted to keep me here, but they failed to realize that there are such cute people in the world who are acclimatized.
Little Dongdong’s.”
…
In the morning, Zhu Yourong's telegram was sent over. After reading a few lines to Xiaoqiang, he was overjoyed - the news from the Fourteenth Gege was good, Zhu Yourong had officially made himself an earl. In order to reward him for everything he had won for the empire this time, he also
In recognition of his previous series of achievements, including penetrating into the Northern Qing Dynasty, the New Year's Coup, defending Nanjing, and siege of Pukou...he was given the title of "Earl of Jiangxinzhou".
Jiangxinzhou? Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at these words and immediately remembered that this is an island in the Nanjing section of the Yangtze River, where the base of the Yangtze River Fleet is located. Nanming has Jiangxinzhou Town on the island. Zhu Yourong said in the telegram that in order to commemorate Xiang Xiaoqiang
Due to his outstanding performance in the battle to defend Nanjing and the annihilation of Pukou, he specially set his fiefdom in Jiangxinzhou, a fortress town on the Yangtze River defense line between Nanjing and Pukou.
Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that in Nanming today, the title of marquis is generally named after a county, and the title of earl is named after a town. But it is not like in ancient times, where the fiefdom is, all the taxes of that place will be given to you. Now
The fiefdom is just a name. The annuities of the Ming nobility are uniformly distributed by the royal family according to their rank. However, even if it is distributed uniformly, the annuity between the lord and the lord and between the uncle and the uncle is still higher or lower. Generally speaking, it is still the same.
The level of your annuity will be determined based on the tax income of your nominal fief.
Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that the annuity given by Zhu Yourong, his "Earl of Jiangxinzhou", was 500,000 Mingyang. One thing Xiang Xiaoqiang was sure of was that although Jiangxinzhou was a town, there was not even an acre of cultivated land or a single factory on the island.
It is a fortification. Even if all the taxes in Jiang Xinzhou are added up for a year, it is far less than 500,000 mingyang. Such a high annuity is already equivalent to the level of a marquis. The title of Princess Liaoyang is a princess, and the annuity is considered high among the Ming princesses.
It only has 700,000 yuan. And the princess's annuity is generally the same as that of the prince and the prince.
This is obviously Zhu Yourong's favoritism towards him. He not only wants his title to be in a heroic place, but also wants to earn a good income. Thinking of this, Xiang Xiaoqiang couldn't help but feel warm in his heart.
He is already a noble. And with the count's annuity, he is already among the richest people in the Ming Dynasty.
Next, Zhu Yourong asked him to stay in Batavia. In the next period of time, he would preside over the handover between the Ming occupation army and the Dutch East India Governor-General's government, and then lead the Ming army stationed in Batavia to withdraw from Batavia.
Asia Island, stationed at Pazia Island.
Xiang Xiaoqiang understood that this was the prelude to appointing him as the governor of Pazia. Now let him take charge of the withdrawal, garrison and other matters, so that he can be fully familiar with Nanyang affairs. I am afraid that in a few days, he will lead the Ming army to settle down in Pazia.
Once he is familiar enough with him and has enough prestige, he will be officially appointed as the governor.
Xiang Xiaoqiang knew he couldn't wait any longer. He immediately asked Qiu Qiu to send a report to Zhu Yourong: He was not accustomed to the acclimatization in Nanyang these days. He often had vomiting and diarrhea, and his limbs were sore and unbearable. It was often accompanied by a low fever, and he couldn't get better after taking medicine and injections... But
The situation in Badawi was severe a few days ago, and then the two countries fought, and Batavia was under military control, and then there were negotiations. He was not allowed to retreat, and he had to hold on even if he was sick... But now the overall situation has been decided, and everything will happen next.
This is a follow-up matter. I hope that His Majesty will send another official to come and be willing to continue to Europe to complete the set tasks.
Sure enough, at noon, Zhu Yourong sent another telegram, asking about his condition with concern and whether he needed to return to China for recuperation.
"Qiu Qiu!" Xiang Xiaoqiang shouted, holding the telegraph newspaper, "Are you willing to return to China?"
Qiu Qiu was playing with several pots of flowers in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling glass window. When she heard him shouting, she turned around and asked:
"What?"
"Now that His Majesty has returned from power generation, I can choose to return to China for recuperation instead of going to Europe. Are you willing to come back to China with me or go to Europe with me?"