Chapter 23: It's Still Possible to Buy an Official Position

  The distance from Jiezhou to Xi'an is over a thousand miles, and the old master has many women, children and elderly people with him. Although they are also on horseback, they cannot travel quickly, and it will take at least twenty or more days. Last time Chen An and his party rushed there in just over ten days. This time Chen An plans to take a boat from Biku Port to Guangyuan Zhao Hua, then disembark and walk along the land route to Hanzhong, and hopefully arrive directly in Xi'an to wait for the old master.

  Along the riverbank of Baishui River, a cavalry team of over 30 people thundered past the county town from the south. Chen An saw the small mountain city for the first time, with its low walls, wooden gates, and sentries who fled in disarray at the sight of the large cavalry team, instantly losing all his expectations.

  It seems that no big guns are needed, just two or three machine guns can occupy the county town. Chen An estimated with ill intentions. Since it's not suitable to rest in the city, Chen An simply chose a small village by the road to take a break, and scared the villagers to death.

  They arrived at the Yulei Guan Iron Chain Bridge, Chen An and his men covered the horses' eyes, five or six people in a batch, led the horses to cross the iron chain bridge. On the other side, fifty or sixty men gathered quietly, obviously they were the so-called Southern Gang who had been startled by Chen An and his men. Chen An directly ordered the first two batches of people and horses to take out the water-pearls hanging on the horse's saddle and put on bayonet guards. With a rustling sound, all the men immediately disappeared without a trace.

  They arrived at Biku Wharf, and it seemed that the news of the military equipment being displayed on Yulei Pass had already spread. The wharf was originally bustling with people coming and going, but now there wasn't a single person in sight. Chen An was stunned - could it be that they had scared away the boatmen?

  Chen An, who knew he had gotten himself into a mess, could only bitterly smile and call over Lin Yushan, instructing him to take care of it, then sat down by the riverbank to watch the water.

  Lin Yushan smiled and took over the task, directly ordering someone to smash open the door of a wine shop. A few pieces of silver were thrown in, stunning the boss and his partner, and soon they asked about the reason. It turned out that Chen An's actions at Yulei Pass were too big, scaring everyone. There were more than a dozen foreign guns among the horse thieves, but compared to the unknown god who had been offended earlier, the power of the middle camp horse thieves who had been burned by fire was even stronger.

  Lin Yushan directly asked a merchant with a boat for the location, and still adopted the method of smashing the door first and then giving silver. He immediately found a merchant who was willing to send a boat to Zhao Hua.

  It took two merchant ships to transport the men and horses. Although the sailors had been paid double their wages in advance, they were still nervous and fearful of offending these men who clearly weren't good people. One sailor was so anxious that he accidentally fell into the river, and his companions quickly pulled him out.

  Chen An couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  At this time, someone couldn't bear it anymore. More than a dozen barefooted and short-sleeved men walked up straight, "This big brother, I don't know which mountain he's from. The buddy being bullied has no skill, but there's no need to force people to jump into the river, right?" A bearded big man said with his fists clenched, while the other men glared angrily.

  Forcing someone to jump into the river? Chen An almost fainted, what is going on here.

  Before Chen An could refute, the comrade who had fallen into the water was pulled up, crying with a sad face, and quickly explained himself, "Brother Wang, I slipped and fell in by myself."

  The other person was also stunned.

  "I don't know your surname, but I paid double to come to Zhao Hua, they came voluntarily." Chen An said calmly.

  "Since everyone is willing, I won't disturb you." Wang Lao Da felt a bit embarrassed, coughed a few times and was about to leave.

  Wang Hongxun? Chen An immediately remembered that his good friend, Ji Yue Xiu had mentioned him before, and it seemed to be the Wang Hongxun from the boat gang.

  "Wait a minute, Wang Lao Da, do you know Ji Yue Xiu?" Chen An hastily intervened.

  "Which of the Ten Brothers are you?" Wang Lao Da asked in surprise.

  Chen An burst out laughing and handed a letter from his pocket to Wang Lao Da.

  Wang Lao Da took the envelope, looked up and saw that it was indeed written by Jing Shi, Wang Hong Yun's personal letter. He felt inside but found nothing, no letter, and casually asked, "Where is the letter?"

  Chen An smiled and said, "Jing Yue Xiu big brother said that you still owe him a drink, he won't write to you until you've paid up."

  Wang Lao Da and Chen An suddenly looked at each other and smiled, saying in unison, "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you."

  The rough is fine, there's no letter in the envelope at all, and Wang Lao Da really owes eleven drinks to Jing, they agreed to meet once, and naturally knew it was their own brother.

  Chen An and Wang Lao Da leaned on each other's shoulders and backs, slipping away to whisper for a long time, as if they were a pair of good brothers who had not seen each other for many years.

  A dramatic scene on the dock, leaving all the onlookers stunned, and the underlings of both sides were still standing there in a daze, looking at their bosses having a cordial and friendly conversation.

  Since they would be interacting with each other for a long time, Chen An didn't hesitate and quickly pulled out the revolver from his waist and secretly handed it to Wang Lao Da. However, Wang Lao Da was stunned as he didn't know how to use it. Chen An was also in a dilemma, he couldn't possibly teach him how to use the gun at the crowded dock. So, Chen An took the gun back and told Wang Lao Da that he would give him three guns on their return trip and guarantee to teach him how to use them.

  The two of them parted ways with a smile, and there were also several more helpers on the boat who helped Chen An all the way to Zhao Hua.

  There are people on the boat who sit in town, and the businessmen are very enthusiastic about running back and forth.

  Water transport is indeed fast and can carry a lot. Chen An saw Japanese and Russian steamships transporting goods on the coast of Liaodong, one ship could unload tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cargo, and whether it was upstream or downstream, it was unimpeded.

  Soon, Chen An, who was taller than Liaodong, suffered. After passing through several dangerous shoals, the merchant ship suddenly rose into the air and then fell from a high altitude. Chen An immediately vomited all over the place, but the others from Chenjiazhuang didn't fare any better.

  Going downstream with the rapid current, traveling 150 miles a day was not a problem at all. However, when they arrived in Zhao Hua, Chen An had already vomited until he was on his last breath and became the most miserable one among them.

  Several sailors rushed over and patted his back and massaged him, and immediately brought porridge from the shore to feed Chen An, who finally came around.

  Chen An weakly asked the boatman, "Can that small steamer which runs very steadily get to Biku?"

  "Mr. Chen, not only is the section from Zhaojue to Bishan and from Zhaojue to Chongqing full of rapids and shoals, downstream relies on experience, upstream relies on trackers, and it's impossible for small steamboats to pass through. On the other hand, the route from Chongqing to Shanghai mostly has small steamboats coming and going." The boatman replied.

  After hearing this, Chen An did not make a sound, but in his heart he thought, if I use big guns to blast open these reefs all the way, won't the navigation route become smoother soon? At that time, if we use small steamboats to go straight to Shanghai, it will be much faster than taking the land route.

  After resting for a day, Chen An and others bid farewell to the boatmen and hurriedly took the official road to Xi'an.

  Half a month later, Chen An and others who were scattered at various city gates in Xi'an finally waited for the late-coming old man and others. In order to avoid too many people and attract official attention, the old man divided more than 600 people into three merchant teams, with a schedule of two or three days apart from each other, taking care of each other as they moved forward, naturally slower.

  Several neighboring inns were all booked by Chen An, otherwise it would be hard to accommodate so many people.

  Chen An carefully told the old master about his experiences over this period of time. Old Master Chen narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time before speaking, "Anzi, you shouldn't have shown your hand at Yulei Pass. Now I estimate that those officials in the county are all scared of you, and when you go back, they will definitely join forces to deal with you."

  Chen An scratched his head and smiled awkwardly a few times.

  "In that case, we must make a bigger move. What are the officials afraid of? One is afraid of the common people rebelling and two is afraid of even higher-ranking officials. We're not rebelling, so we might as well become officials who outrank them." Old Master Chen said calmly.

  "Is being an official so easy?" Chen An muttered.

  Mr. Chen smiled and said, "It seems that we can buy an official position, so it looks like we'll have to make a trip to Jinjifeng."

  Jin Jibao? Chen Ang was even more puzzled.

  "We went to Dong Junmen's place to ask for a letter of recommendation, he had a good relationship with Qingxi Wang Ye. With his letter of recommendation, we entered the mansion of Qingxi Wang, Qingxi Wang was open and aboveboard in selling official positions, this was an open secret both inside and outside the imperial court at that time." Old Master Chen furrowed his brow again, "But Qingxi Wang was extremely greedy, it would cost a lot of money."

  "How much does it cost?"

  Mr. Chen said, "The more money, the higher the official, clear pricing, no cheating of old and young."

  Is this okay? Chen An was stunned.

  Call Lin Yushan immediately, Chen An asked how much money was left.

  Lin Yushan replied, "We only brought more than 3,000 taels of silver."

  It's a bit too little, Chen An muttered, not even ten thousand taels, it can't be taken out at all, and besides, some rituals are needed when arriving at Jinji Fort.

  Chen An saw that Lin Yushan was muttering to himself, and quickly added another sentence. "However, last time we searched the bandit's lair in Hanzhong Mountain, we found some deeds and land contracts. If we sell them, I estimate there will be more than 10,000 taels of silver."

  Chen An's eyes lit up, and he almost forgot about these things.

  The two of them whispered for a while and immediately arranged to get rid of all these things.

  It took three whole days, Lin Yushan, dressed as a down-and-out young master, quietly wandered around the pawn shops in Xi'an, and these house deeds were sold at two or three discounts. Fortunately, it was Xi'an, and many people were still interested in the land and houses of Hanzhong, otherwise they would not be able to pawn them for such a high price.

  Although so, Lin Yushan still managed to get nearly 20,000 taels of silver. Chen An quietly exchanged these silvers for gold and put them in a small box.

  With the silver in hand, Chen An immediately set off with Old Man Chen to rush to Jinji Fort, leaving behind Yushan and a dozen or so men to wait for the last batch of merchant caravans, which included Mr. Lin and Lin Yue'er's caravan.

  Lin Yushan reluctantly accepted the task, guessing that he would definitely be scolded to death by Yue'er. It had been several months since he last saw Chen An. Now, going to Jinjibao and then buying an official position in the capital, who knows how many more months it would take? He suddenly envied Hu Zi, as long as he followed Chen An's side, no need to consider any situation.