Since Li Hongzhang replaced Xue Huan's Su Fu, Wu Xu's heart has always been a little uneasy. Although there have been some conflicts between him and Guan Zhuofan in the past, fortunately, he saw the opportunity quickly, admitted his low and gave in to his softness, and finally coped with it without any major problems. And Li Hongzhang is not necessarily so easy to dismiss.

"Don't be afraid of him." Wu Xu encouraged himself in his heart. Although the iceberg of Xue Huan has fallen, Li Hongzhang, an Anhui guy who has never seen the world, where can he find out what is going on in the foreign field? You must still borrow yourself!

As if to confirm his thoughts, this afternoon, someone from the governor's yamen came to report that Li Zhongcheng wanted to visit the yamen of the provincial government in the east of the city after dinner.

This is very much like a small visit between friends, Wu Xu thought proudly, it still depends on me. When Li Hongzhang arrived at the Daotai Yamen, which was also the Gaosi Yamen in Jiangsu at the moment, Wu Xu no matter how contemptuous he was in his heart, "Be this official, do this courtesy", in the end, when the boss arrived, he couldn't help but be dressed in a full set of official clothes.

"Brother doesn't have to be polite," Li Hongzhang said with a smile, "It's rare to be idle, and the weather is hot, I just go out for a walk, so why bother to dress up." ”

"Yes! It's better to be respectful than to obey your orders, please sit here first, drink and admire the moon, and I will change into civilian clothes to accompany me. ”

The wine is a good wine - Wu Xu's specially prepared French grape wine, which is chilled in cold well water and poured into a carved glass cup, has an excellent taste. So set up tables and chairs in the courtyard of the flower hall, with a few kinds of fruit and small snacks to accompany the wine, the host and guest chatted under the moon, between the shadows of the trees, the elegance was very elegant.

It's not about Fengyue, it's about the war situation. Li Hongzhang said. Zeng Guoquan got the help of Peng Yulin's sailor. More than 20,000 overseers. Stationed in Yuhuatai, the long-haired "Tianjing" was surrounded, and the whole battle situation was very favorable. And if Li Xiucheng comes to fight Shanghai again, he is ready to divide the north and south with Guan Zhuofan and work together to defend it. The implicit implication in his remarks is that Shanghai's defense still has to rely on the "Sino-foreign Defense Bureau."

To borrow the defense bureau is to borrow Wu Xu. So he spoke energetically. It was interesting to listen to, and the atmosphere in the seat became very harmonious, and the wine was served quickly. When the war situation came to an end, Li Hongzhang suddenly said in a self-ashamed voice: "I am ashamed to be the governor, but the people who came from Beijing yesterday asked about the exact number of tariffs at the Jiang Customs, and I was unable to answer. I heard that my brother has a concise number book here, can you borrow it and take a look at it, so that I can also open my eyes? ”

"Futai misheard people. There are no concise books, only books. ”

"Can you take a look at the account books?" Li Hongzhang asked with interest. "If it's inconvenient, forget it."

"There's nothing inconvenient." Wu Xu was half-drunk, and he already had the intention of smoking, and thought: You are an official from Hanlin, and the subset of Jingshi is naturally haode, but when it comes to accounts, even if you open it up for you to see, and then give you the abacus, will you be able to get the gist of it? So he summoned someone to come and went to the account room of the Provincial Department, took out a dozen account books, stacked them in a stack, and presented them with both hands.

"It turned out that there were only a dozen books, so it seems that the accounting matter is not too difficult." Li Hongzhang's alcohol consumption is excellent, but at this moment, he pretended to be drunk, flipped through these account books casually, and said nonchalantly.

"Why isn't it difficult? So that Futai learned that this is only the general ledger. There are also those accounts that are too trivial to bother adults. Since I want to see it, I will take it. Wu Xu waved his hand and ordered: "Move here for me and show Lord Futai!" ”

Wu Xu was a little negative and a little show-off, but after all, he still had a lot of contempt for him, and he was thinking: Customs affairs and taxes are heavy and heavy, and it is not something that a layman can intervene in, so he simply bluffs you and teaches you to be daunting!

So he sold up all the account books, and made a total of hundreds of them. Li Hongzhang flipped through slightly, suddenly leaned back, and said with a smile: "These accounts, there are many entries, I will definitely not be able to finish reading tonight, I will take it back to take a look, and before sunset tomorrow, I will definitely return it." ”

Without waiting for Wu Xu to react, he immediately shouted loudly: "Come on!" ”

"Huh!" The four pro-soldiers who had brought it came up with a violent promise.

"Wrap these books up for me and bring them back." Li Hongzhang, who has always been very easy-going, suddenly pulled an official tone.

The four pro-soldiers had already been instructed, and with a promise, the leader pulled out of his bosom and unfolded a large piece of yellow cloth squarely. The two of them grabbed each other, went over to the account book, and then turned over the bottom of the book, the yellow cloth was already under the account book, and then the four hands intersected, making a big burden, and carried it away.

"I'm disturbing tonight," Li Hongzhang said with no wine on his face, "I'll go back and look at the account!" ”

Wu Xu was dumbfounded, looking at Li Hongzhang in a daze, he even forgot to say the due politeness, and only after a while did he stumble hatefully: "Li Shaoquan, you are so ruthless!" ”

It is indeed ruthless - when Hangzhou fell, Shanghai was in danger, and in a panic, it was Wu Xu who vigorously advocated the introduction of Huai troops to aid Shanghai! Now Li Hongzhang suddenly turned his face and didn't recognize people, which is really something that can never be imagined anymore.

Li Hongzhang was complacent, returned to the governor's yamen, and gathered his friends who were good at calculations overnight, including Zhou Fu, to light a bright giant candle, divide labor and be responsible, and check the account books one by one. As a result, the monthly tariffs and other revenues on the Shanghai Road reached more than 500,000 yuan.

This time, Li Hongzhang knows the financial situation of Shanghai Dao well-it is not that Wu Xu is corrupt, judging from the accounts alone, he is quite innocent, after all, no one has the courage to do so with such a large amount. The reason why Wu Xu is accustomed to underreporting is to let others not understand the details, so that he can allocate money to who and not to whom, to give more or less, to give early or late, all in his hands, giving him the opportunity to control it.

Although Wu Xi's handle was not found in the accounts, with such a huge income, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but be hot, and immediately made up his mind that this Shanghai Dao must be replaced by his own talents.

So a few days later, he first carried out the step of "removing his wings", named Yan Shen, and dismissed Yu Bin, the alternate prefect Yu Bin, the alternate county Cheng Minzhao, and Jin Hongbao, who were running under Wu Xu's door on weekdays. Suddenly, Shanghai's officialdom shook, and Wu Xu was flustered, and he no longer regained his former arrogance.

Guan Zhuofan, who was in the yamen of the feudal division, remained silent, just observed from the side, and silently remembered Li Hongzhang's series of methods in his heart.

*

*

Li Hongzhang and Guan Zhuofan jointly held the title of "Petition for the Trial of the Telegraph", which was finally officially approved by the imperial court, specifying that it was limited to the scope of Jiangsu Province and that military affairs should be given priority, and the so-called "military crossing the line should be stayed." In terms of names, the original names such as "wire" and "copper wire" were also unified and standardized into the word "telegraph". The expenses for the operation of the telegraph were coordinated by the Yamen of the Domain and the Yamen of Shanghai Province.

At this time, the Sihe company is destined to develop, and Libin and Jin Nengheng are smiling and busy. The existing wire equipment must be insufficient, so on the one hand, we have stepped up orders from overseas, and on the other hand, we have hired people to rush to work on the spot to make wire poles.

Li Hongzhang's thought was to give up such a huge profit to Guan Zhuofan, but he still didn't realize it. It is no wonder that people cannot be born to know, although he is an extremely intelligent person, but in the end he has never really come into contact with foreign affairs, and limited by knowledge, he cannot be like Guan Zhuofan, who can not predict the development of telegraphy in the future, which is a helpless thing.

"Futai, I'll first set up the line of communication between the two armies for you." Guan Zhuofan showed favor to Li Hongzhang and made a favor, "In this way, you can command the Huai Army and the Xuan Army, and you can be handy." ”

"Don't dare to be," Guan Zhuofan's kind words, Li Hongzhang could only express his understanding, "Xuanjun is naturally Yixuan, you will be in command." ”

"It's all under the command of Futai." Guan Zhuofan said, "May I ask Futai, once the battle starts, where will your camp be located?" ”

"Naturally, it's Jiading on the front line." Li Hongzhang is colorful.

"Well......" Compared with himself, Guan Zhuofan felt ashamed, and said stubbornly: "Then I will let people put the line between the county seat and Jiading, Futai but there is a life, and the Xuan army can echo at any time." In the future, wherever the Huai army hits, the wires will be set up. ”

Li Hongzhang agreed, and then asked Guan Zhuofan for someone.

"Yixuan, I've heard that the telegraph machine needs to be controlled by a specialist. Huaijun doesn't have such talents now, if you have a surplus of people there, can you recommend a few to come over? ”

"It should work." Guan Zhuofan said: "Not only people, I also have a newly compiled Chinese code there, which can also be given to Futai." ”

"That's great!"

So Guan Zhuofan took a pen and paper, thought about it for a while, and wrote the names of several people on the paper.

"There are two people who can be the foreman. One is called Bian Ning, who is extraordinary, and is the head of my telegraph office, who can give love to Futai. Guan Zhuofan pointed out to Li Hongzhang, "The other one is called Huang Haiqing, who is slightly inferior, but he is quite honest." ”

Guan Zhuofan has such a statement, which can be regarded as "showing others", without reservation, and he is very sincere. But Li Hongzhang is a scheming person, seeing that he recommended Bian Ning so strongly, he became suspicious, and said that this must be your cronies, who were fed with silver, if they were put under their own accounts, they couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, so they smiled and said: "Your manager, how can I rob it?" It's just that the Yellow Sea is clear. ”

So Huang Haiqing was appointed as the foreman, and two veterans and four trainees were brought as the team of the Huaijun Telegraph Office. In Li Hongzhang's view, even if he is a little worse, as long as he is honest.

But I don't know that honest people are actually not honest - Huang Haiqing is Bian Ning's brother-in-law, and he looks honest on his face, but he is an extremely clever person. This level of their relationship, Guan Zhuofan kept it a secret, and he had already used kind words and thick coins to cage in his sleeve.

This painstaking and lonely work, starting from the time he sent Libin's cousin to Hong Kong to recruit people, to today, finally buried a nail by Li Hongzhang's side.

*

(The second watch is around 7:30 p.m.) ）

*(To be continued......)