March of the second year of Jiajing finally came to an end, in the early summer of April, the summer heat gradually increased, and the willow trees on both sides of the canal also drifted away and became lush.

At this moment, Xu Jin was standing on the deck of the bow of the Qinchalou ship, hunting in the wind in a moon-white wide-sleeved robe, wearing a square scarf, red lips and white teeth, and a calm temperament, a personable little white face.

Today is the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, since the day of 27 March, the pirates have suffered heavy losses, although several thieves escaped, but this gang of pirates has been difficult to pose a threat, and after the next few days of pursuit, encirclement, and suppression, the officers and men have successively killed more than a dozen fish that have slipped through the net, and this gang of pirates can be regarded as basically eliminated.

Therefore, there was no need for Xu Jin to continue to sit in the inspection department of Baihe Town, so he led the team back to Yangzhou City, and by the way, transported the goods in Dongtai County back to Yangzhou City, so as not to regenerate branches.

After careful calculation, Xu Jin received the news that Dongtai County was captured by the thieves on March 17, and it took less than half a month to exterminate this gang of thieves, which can be said to be quite fast, and the only regret is that the thief leader escaped.

It is really incomprehensible that these thieves suddenly evaporated from the world, but Xu Jin did not give up so easily, although he led the team back to Yangzhou, but he left Qi Jingtong in Tongzhou and Rugao County to continue the search, and the canal and the mouth of the Yangtze River also continued to be blocked.

It is said that after repeated battles, the 500 battalion was greatly reduced, the number of dead was close to 100, and the number of wounded was even more. When Xu Jin returned to Yangzhou this time, he only brought fifty soldiers, but Xie Erjian and Wang Lin'er accompanied him, and the remaining more than 300 soldiers and all the recruits were handed over to Qi Jingtong.

In this way, Qi Jingtong can take this opportunity to train his troops while searching for several escaped thieves, so that those recruits can grow up as soon as possible, and as soon as the will to expand the camp arrives, these recruits can be immediately incorporated into the 500 battalion, and the 500 battalion, which is seriously reduced, urgently needs fresh blood.

Speaking of the emperor's will, Xu Jin is also very strange, he played the book on March 10 to ask for merit for the 500 battalions of soldiers, and asked for the expansion of the camp, but he has not received a reply from the holy decree until now, it stands to reason that the holy decree should have arrived, could it be that there was something wrong?

Xu Jin was pondering, and his brother-in-law Xie Sangun, who was enjoying the cool with his chest open, suddenly shouted: "Brother-in-law, look, Taizhou City has arrived." ”

Xu Jin retracted his thoughts and looked at it, and sure enough, he saw Taizhou City standing on the edge of the canal, and after Taizhou City, Yangzhou City would be a hundred miles away.

The magistrate of Taizhou had obviously heard that Qincha's fleet was going to pass by, so the Taizhou county commander led a large group of gentry to wait on the dock, and also pulled a striking banner with words such as "Lord Qincha triumphed", apparently intending to pat Xu Jin's ass.

It's a pity that Xu Jin didn't plan to stay in Taizhou, but just waved his hand on the boat, and the mighty fleet swept directly through the city, and the officials and gentry in Taizhou could only regretfully collect the team and return to the city.

Besides, the Qincha fleet passed through Taizhou City and continued to drive for more than an hour, and unexpectedly met a fleet head-on, and there was also a Xuanhuang regimental dragon flag on the bow of the opponent's ship.

Xu Jin couldn't help but move in his heart, and ordered the fleet to stop, at this time, the opposite fleet also stopped, a clipper quickly sailed over, and a man in brocade clothes stood on the bow of the ship and shouted: "Is it Lord Jing Anbo Xu Jin Xu on the other side?" ”

"Lord Jing An Boxu is here, who is on the other side?" Jin Yiwei Baihu Han Dajie shouted back with high ambitions.

The Jinyi guard on the clipper boat did not answer, but turned around and sailed back, and soon, a large ship of the opposite fleet slowly approached, and finally side by side with Xu Jin's Qinchalou ship.

"Haha, what a coincidence, I actually met Lord Xu here, but I didn't have to go to Dongtai County."

I saw a young Jinyi guard and a young chamberlain appear on the bow of the big ship opposite, this young brocade guard turned out to be Lu Bing's kid, but the young chamberlain Xu Jin didn't know.

Lu Bing and his little father-in-law stepped on the gangplank and crossed the boat, smiling and saluting Xu Jin.

Xu Jin smiled and said: "What kind of wind blew Bing Shao here, could it be that the emperor has a decree?" ”

Although Lu Bing was the little hair of the little emperor Zhu Houxi, he didn't dare to take it big in front of Xu Jin, because he knew Xu Jin's influence on the emperor, so he hurriedly said: "Don't dare to be, Lord Xu just call me Lu Bing, or Ah Bing." There is indeed a holy decree of the emperor here, Gonggong Li, announce the decree! ”

The little father-in-law's surname was Li, and he was just an ordinary little yellow door who was in charge of delivering the decree, but he didn't dare to be pretentious, so he immediately took out the holy decree and read it.

The content of this decree was generally a reward and reward for Xu Jin and the soldiers of the 500 battalion, and it also approved Xu Jin to expand the 500 battalion to 1,000 people.

Xu Jin received the order to thank the soldiers in the cheers of the 500 battalions, and ordered someone to distribute the emperor's reward brought by Lu Bing with the ship to all the soldiers on the spot, and everyone was happy for a while.

"Lord Xu, there is also a personal letter from the emperor to you, oh, by the way, there is also a letter from Mrs. Zun and the two aunts." Lu Bing handed over the little emperor's handwritten letter and family letter to Xu Jin with an envious face.

Xu Jin thanked him and took it, but he was not in a hurry to open it, beckoned Lu Bing and Gonggong Li to sit down in the cabin, and ordered someone to serve tea.

Xu Jin drank tea, smiled and asked, "How is the emperor doing recently?" ”

"Okay, a few days ago, the little lord turned one year old, and the emperor went to visit, haha, Lord Xu, the little lord is getting cuter and cuter as he grows, and he will call him uncle, ouch, but the emperor is happy to give a lot of rewards, even the little ones are red." Lu Bing's expression was exaggerated.

Xu Jin couldn't help but be in a trance, and was shocked to realize that he had been away from Beijing for two months, and his son could not even speak, and he couldn't help but feel homesick leisurely, and he couldn't wait to immediately put on his wings and fly back to Beijing, however, this is obviously unrealistic, the land clearance work has just begun, and the land clearance of Nanzhili and Zhejiang will be completed, not to mention the end of the year, or even next year.

Lu Bing took a sip of tea and said triumphantly: "Lord Xu, now the court is lively, hehe." ”

Xu Jin's heart moved, and he asked, "Zhang Xuan and Gui Cao have entered Beijing?" ”

Lu Binghe said with a smile: "The two of them arrived in the capital on March 20, and the emperor will arrange them to be assigned to the household department and the criminal department respectively on the same day. ”

Xu Jin couldn't help frowning and said, "The cabinet must not agree, right?" ”

"Hey, Yang Ge Lao naturally disagreed, and rejected the emperor's will, and the emperor issued a decree to reprimand him for being arbitrary, and before that, Yang Ge Lao rejected the emperor's will to approve the expansion of the five hundred battalions.

Yang Ge was reprimanded by the emperor, and in order to prove his innocence, he said on the spot that he wanted to sue the old man to return to his hometown, but the emperor did not allow it, but insisted on arranging Zhang Xuan and Gui Cao to join the six departments. In the end, Yang Ge Lao agreed to expand the camp with 500 battalions, and the emperor gave up. ”

Xu Jin couldn't help but be speechless, it seems that Zhu Houxi, this kid, has grown up faster than he expected, and he is becoming more and more proficient in using this power technique.

However, the emperor in history is indeed a master of playing with imperial power, from a young vassal king with no foundation, successfully transformed into a thunderous emperor, and governed the eunuchs and civil and military ministers obediently, even if he did not go to court for 20 years, hiding in the West Garden to cultivate immortals and alchemy, he still firmly controlled the government.

"When does Bing Shao plan to return to Beijing?" Xu Jin took a sip of tea and changed the topic.

Lu Bing shook his head and said: "I won't go back for the time being, this time my subordinates brought three hundred brocade guards, and the emperor ordered his subordinates to stay by Lord Xu's side to listen to the Hou's dispatch, and then I want Lord Xu to take care of him, hehe, now everyone calls Lord Xu Xu Changsheng, and his subordinates also want to get some light, how much hard work they make, and they will be good in the future." ”

Xu Jin couldn't help but be dumbfounded, saying that he really went where to fight, this is a knife in his life?